university  of 

Connecticut 

libraries 


BOOK   974.6.N823G   c.  1  „^,^,,-r 

NORTON    #    GOVERNORS   OF    CONNECTICUT 


3  T1S3  0Q05S733  2 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Boston  Library  Consortium  Member  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/governorsofconne01nort 


Cbe  Jiutbor  Jlffcctionauiy  Dedicates  Cbi$  Book 

Co  George  merritnan  of  Bristol  Connecticut 

"Cbe  truest,  noblest  ana  Best 

friend  T  €per  Bad" 


Copyrighted,  1905,  by  Frederick  Calvin  Norton 
Printed  by  Dorman  Lithographing  Company  at  New  Haven 


Please  Note: 

It  has  been  necessary  to  replace  some  of  the  original  pages 
in  this  book  with  photocopy  reproductions  because  of 
damage  or  mistreatment  by  a  previous  user. 

Replacement  of  damaged  materials  is  both  expensive  and 
time-consuming.  Please  handle  this  volume  with  care  so 
that  information  will  not  be  lost  to  future  readers. 

Thank  you  for  helping  to  preserve  the  University's  research 
collections. 


Cftt 

l]9Vvriiv;r> 

Connecticut/ 

Biographies    of    the    Chief    Executives    of 

THE  Commonwealth  that  gave  to  the 

World    the   First  Written 

Constitution  known  to 

History 

By   FREDERICK  CALVIN  NORTON 

Illustrated   ivith    reproductions 

from  oil  paintings  at  the  State 

Capitol  and  facsimile  sig- 

natures from  official  documents 

MDCCCCV 

Patron's  Edition  published  by 

THE    CONNECTICUT     MAGAZINE 

Company  at  Hartford,  Connecticut 

By         PF    a    y  of         Introduction 


WHILE  I  was  living  in  the  home  of  that  sturdy  Puritan 
governor,  William  Leete, — my  native  town  of  Guil- 
ford,— the  idea  suggested  itself  to  me  that  inasmuch 
as  a  collection  of  the  biographies  of  the  chief  executives  of 
Connecticut  had  never  been  made,  the  work  would  afford  an 
interesting  and  agreeable  undertaking.  This  was  in  the  year 
1895.  1  began  the  task,  but  before  it  had  far  progressed  it  offered 
what  seemed  to  me  insurmountable  obstacles,  so  that  for  a  time 
the  collection  of  data  concerning  the  early  rulers  of  the  state  was 
entirely  abandoned.  A  few  years  later  the  work  was  again 
resumed  and  carried  to  completion.  The  manuscript  was  requested 
by  a  magazine  editor  for  publication  and  appeared  serially  in 
*'  The  Connecticut  Magazine." 

To  Rev.  Samuel  Hart,  D.D.,  president  of  the  Connecticut 
Historical  Society,  I  express  my  gratitude  for  his  assistance  in 
deciding  some  matters  which  were  subject  to  controversy.  Many 
current  but  unreliable  anecdotes  I  have  omitted  after  careful  con- 
sideration, and  much  care  has  been  taken  to  record  entertainingly 
only  facts  that  are  of  essential  interest  and  worth  to  the  public-at- 
large.  Knowing  the  inclination  of  both  dates  and  data  to  become 
distorted,  I  secured  the  services  of  Mr.  Frederick  E.  Norton,  of 
the  editorial  staff  of  the  "Hartford  Courant," — a  name-sake  by 
chance, —  to  edit  my  original  manuscript  by  verifying  every 
fact  and  date  herein  given  by  his  own  original  research. 


By  IV    a    y  of  Introduction 

I  am  under  obligation  to  several  persons  for  many  favors 
shown  and  valuable  assistance  cheerfully  given  in  securing  the 
material  for  these  sketches.  My  thanks  are  especially  due  to  the 
late  Charles  Jeremy  Hoadly,  LL.D.,  long  time  librarian  of  the 
Connecticut  State  Library.  One  of  the  ripest  historians  of  this  or 
any  other  generation,  his  vast  storehouse  of  historical  information 
was  always  open  to  investigators.  Dr.  Hoadly  furnished  many 
facts  for  the  compilation  of  the  following  sketches  which  the 
author  desires  to  publicly  acknowledge. 

Professor  Franklin  Bowditch  Dexter,  assistant  librarian  of 
Yale  University,  placed  at  my  disposal  much  valuable  information 
in  the  shape  of  rare  books,  pamphlets,  etc.,  not  elsewhere  to  be 
found,  which  assisted  materially  in  the  preparation  of  these  sketches. 
Few  scholars  of  this  or  any  other  state  are  as  ready  and  willing  to 
assist  students  of  history  in  their  investigation  as  Professor  Dexter. 
Among  the  volumes  consulted  may  be  specially  mentioned 
the  "  History  of  Hartford  County,"  edited  by  Dr.  J.  Hammond 
Trumbull  and  Mr.  Charles  Hopkins  Clark.  This  work  contains 
some  valuable  articles  by  Miss  Mary  K.  Talcott  on  the  original 
proprietors  of  Hartford,  and  from  these  articles  were  obtained 
many  facts  of  interest  regarding  the  early  governors  of  Connecticut 
colony.  The  "  Civil  and  Judicial  History  of  Connecticut,"  edited 
by  the  late  Judge  Dwight  Loomis,  contributed  many  important 
details  regarding  the  lives  of  the  chief  executives  who  were  mem- 
bers of  the  legal  profession.     Trumbull's,  Hollister's  and  Barber's 


B    y  W    ay         of         Introduction 

general  histories  of  Connecticut,  were  freely  consulted,  as  well  as 
that  unique  and  brilliant  volume,  ^'•Connecticut:  A  Study  of  a 
Commonwealth  'Democracy^'  by  the  late  lamented  Professor  Alexander 
J  ohnston  of  Princeton  University. 

All  that  I  have  attempted  in  this  the  first  collected  account 
of  the  governors  of  Connecticut  is  to  place  in  a  concise  and  per- 
manent form  the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  each  governor  from 
John  Haynes  of  Coddicot  to  Henry  Roberts  of  Hartford, 

Fifty-eight  men  have  been  chosen  governors  of  Connecticut 
in  the  last  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  years.  Including  the 
royal  governor,  popularly  known  as  a  usurper,  there  are  therefore 
fifty-nine  biographies  in  this  book,  appearing  in  the  consecutive 
order  in  which  each  one  was  first  called  to  the  governorship. 

The  subject  has  been  more  and  more  fascinating  during  the 
years  that  I  have  worked  at  it;  and  now  that  I  am  about  to  dis- 
miss the  last  page  of  my  book  it  is  with  the  hope  that  the  work 
will  fill  a  place  in  the  biographical  history  of  our  Commonwealth. 

It  is  indeed  my  own  fond  intention  to  make,  at  some  time  in 
years  to  come,  when  time  permits,  a  still  further  study  of  the  lives 
of  the  founders  of  Connecticut.  - 

Frederick  Calvin  Norton 

Bristol,  Connecticut 
First  Day  of  December 
Nineteen  Hundred  and  Five 


D  2  g  e  s  t      0  f      t  h  e      Governors      of      Connecticut 


Biography 


I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 
VIII 

Royal 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 
XVIII 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 

XXII 

XXIII 

XXIV 


Full  Name  of  Governor 


I 

7 
13 
19 
25 

28 

35 
41 

47 

57 
63 
69 

75 
81 

87 
93 
99 

107 
113 

119 

127 

133 

139 

145 

151 


John  Haynes 

Edward  Hopkins 

George  Wyllys 

Thomas  Welles 

John  Webster 

John  Winthrop 

William  Leete 
Robert  Treat 

Sir  Edmund  Andros 

Fitz-John  Winthrop 
Gurdon  Saltonstall 
Joseph  Talcott 
Jonathan  Law 
Roger  Wolcott 
Thomas  Fitch 
William  Pitkin 
Jonathan  Trumbull 

Matthew  Griswold 
Samuel  Huntington 

Oliver  Wolcott 

Jonathan  Trumbull,  2nd 

John  Treadwell 

Roger  Griswold 

John  Cotton  Smith 

Oliver  Wolcott 


Born 


Birthplace 


1594 
1600 
1570 
1598 

1606 

1612 
1622 

1637 

1639 
1666 
1669 
1674 
1679 
1700 
1694 
1 710 

1714 
1731 

1726 

1740 

1745 

1762 

1765 
1760 


Coddicot,  Eng. 

Shrewsbury,  Eng. 

Fenny  Compton,  Eng. 
*London,  Eng. 
*Warwickshire,  Eng. 

Groton  Manor,  Eng. 

Dodington,  Eng. 
*Pitminster,  Eng. 

London,  Eng. 

Ipswich,  Mass. 
Haverhill,  Mass. 
Hartford,  Conn. 
Milford,  Conn. 
Windsor,  Conn. 
Norwalk,  Conr. 
East  Hartford,  Conn. 
Lebanon,  Conn. 

Lyme,  Conn. 
Windham,  Conn. 

Windsor,  Conn. 

Lebanon,  Conn. 

Farmington,  Conn. 

Lyme,  Conn. 

Sharon,  Conn. 

Litchfield,  Conn. 


Education 


University 


Trinity  College 
(Dublin,  Ire.) 
For  the  Bar 


Royal  Court 

Harvard  College 
Harvard  College 

Harvard  College 
Self-Educated 
Yale  College 

Harvard  College 

Self-Educated 
Self-Educated 

Yale  College 

Harvard  College 

Yale  College 

Yale  College 

Yale  College 

Yale  College 


*  Not  fully  authenticated. 


'tabulated       Contents       of      t  h 


Volume 


Early 
Occupation 

Occupation 

When  Chosen 

Governor 

Residence 

When  Chosen 

Governor 

0)  d 

A  1> 

>  tn 

>  o 

MO 

< 

Date  of 
Service 

Years  of 
Service 

Died 

•d 

J* 
bo 

< 

Biography 

Wealthy 

Land  Owner 

Hartford 

45 

1639,41,43,45, 

8 

1653-4 

59 

I 

Emigrant 

(planter) 

47.49.5r. 53 

Merchant 

Trading 

Hartford 

40 

1640,44,46,48, 

7 

1657 

57 

n 

Emigrant 

Merchant 

50,52,54 

Wealthy 

Land  Owner 

Hartford 

72 

1642-43 

I 

1645 

75 

HI 

Emigrant 

(planter) 

Wealthy 

Land  Owner 

Hartford 

57 

1655,  58 

2 

1660 

62 

IV 

Emigrant 

(planter) 

Land  Owner 

Hartford 

1656-57 

I 

1661 

V 

(planter) 

Barrister 

Adventurer 
and  Scholar 

New  London 

51 

1657,  59-76 

18 

1676 

70 

VI 

Barrister 

Magistrate 

Guilford 

64 

1676-83 

7 

1683 

71 

vn 

Planter 

Military 
Leader 

Milford 

61 

1683-98 

15 

1710 

89 

vni 

Military 

Military 

New  York 

50 

1687-89 

I  yr. 
6  mos. 

1714 

77 

Royal 

Military 

Military 

New  London 

60 

1698-1707 

9 

1707 

69 

IX 

Theology 

Clergyman 

New  London 

42 

1708-25 

17 

1724 

58 

X 

Planter 

Military 

Hartford 

56 

1725-42 

17 

1741 

72 

XI 

Lawyer 

Judiciary 

Milford 

68 

1742-51 

9 

1750 

76 

XII 

Weaver 

Military 

Windsor 

72 

1751-54 

3 

1767 

89 

XIII 

Clergyman 

Lawyer 

Norwalk 

54 

1754-66 

12 

1774 

74 

XIV 

Military 

Judiciary 

Hartford 

72 

1766-69 

3 

1769 

75 

XV 

Clergyman 

Merchant- 
Lawyer 

Lebanon 

59 

1769-84 

15 

1785 

75 

XVI 

Farmer 

Lawyer 

Lyme 

70 

1784-86 

2 

1799 

85 

XVII 

Cooper 

Lawyer 

Norwich 

55 

1786-96 

9  yrs. 
8  mos. 

1796 

65 

XVIII 

Military 

Physician 

Litchfield 

70 

1796-97 

I  yr. 
II  mos. 

1797 

71 

XIX 

Military 

Statesman 

Lebanon 

57 

1797-1809 

II  yrs. 
8  mos. 

i8c9 

69 

XX 

Merchant 

Judiciary 

Farmington 

64 

1809-11 

I  yr. 
9  mos. 

1823 

78 

XXI 

Lawyer 

Statesman 

Lyme 

49 

1811-12 

lyr. 
5  mos. 

1812 

50 

XXII 

Lawyer 

Judiciary 

Sharon 

47 

1812-17 

4  yrs. 
7  mos. 

1845 

80 

XXIII 

Military 

Manufacturer 
(Statesman) 

Litchfield 

57 

1817-27 

10 

1833 

73 

XXIV    • 

t  Ages  are  given  in  full  years,  but  in  some  cases  lacke-f  a  few  weeks  of  the  age  recorded. 


D  i  g 


e  s 


t      of      the      Governors      of      Connecticut 


Biography 

e 

Full  Name  of  Governor 

Born 

Birthplace 

Education 

XXV 

i6i 

Gideon  Tomlinson 

1780 

Stratford,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXVI 

167 

John  Samuel  Peters 

1772 

Hebron,  Conn. 

Self-Educated 

XXVII 

173 

Henry  Waggaman  Edwards 

1779 

New  Haven,  Conn. 

College  of 
New  Jersey 

XXVIII 

177 

Samuel  Augustus  Foote 

1780 

Cheshire,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXIX 

183 

William  Wolcott  Ellsworth 

1791 

Windsor,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXX 

189 

Chauncey  Fitch  Cleveland 

1799 

Canterbury,  Conn. 

Self-Educated 

XXXI 

195 

Roger  Sherman  Baldwin 

1793 

New  Haven,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXXII 

203 

Isaac  Toucey 

1796 

Newtown,  Conn. 

Self-Educated 

XXXIII 

2og 

Clark  Bissell 

1782 

Lebanon,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXXIV 

215 

Joseph  Trumbull 

1782 

Lebanon,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXXV 

219 

Thomas  Hart  Seymour 

1808 

Hartford,  Conn. 

Military  Institute — 
Middletown 

XXXVI 

225 

Charles  Hobby  Pond 

1781 

Milford,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXXVII 

229 

Henry  Button 

1796 

Waterbury,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXXVIII 

237 

William  Thomas  Minor 

1815 

Stamford,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XXXIX 

243 

Alexander  Hamilton  Holley 

1804 

Lakeville,  Conn. 

Private  Seminary 

XL 

249 

William  Alfred  Buckingham 

1804 

Lebanon,  Conn. 

Bacon  Academy 
(Colchester) 

XLI 

259 

Joseph  Roswell  Hawley 

1826 

Stewartsville,  N.  C. 

Hamilton  College 

XLII 

269 

James  Edward  English 

1812 

New  Haven,  Conn. 

Public  School 

XLIII 

277 

Marshall  Jewell 

1825 

Winchester,  N.  H. 

Self-Educated 

XLIV 

285 

Charles  Roberts  Ingersoll 

1821 

New  Haven,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XLV 

293 

Richard  Dudley  Hubbard 

t8i8 

Berlin,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

XLVI 

301 

Charles  Bartlett  Andrews 

1834 

Sunderland,  Mass. 

Amherst  College 

XLVII 

309 

Hobart  Baldwin  Bigelow 

1834 

North  Haven,  Conn. 

Private  Academy 

XLVIII 

315 

Thomas  McDonald  Waller 

1840 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Bartlett  High  School, 
New  London 

XLIX 

321 

Henry  Baldwin  Harrison 

1821 

New  Haven,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

L 

327 

Phineas  Chapman  Lounsbury 

1841 

Ridgefield,  Conn. 

Public  School 

LI 

333 

Morgan  Gardner  Bulkeley 

1837 

East  Haddam,  Conn. 

Hartford  High 
School 

LII 

341 

Luzon  Burrett  Morris 

1827 

Newtown,  Conn. 

Yale  College 

LIII 

347 

Owen  Vincent  Coffin 

1836 

Mansfield,  N.  Y. 

Private  Seminary 

LIV 

353 

Lorrin  Alanson  Cooke 

1831 

New  Marlboro,  Mass. 

Norfolk  Academy 

LV 

359 

George  Edward  Lounsbury 

1833 

Pound  Ridge,  N.  Y. 

Yale  College 

LVI 

365 

George  Payne  McLean 

1857 

Simsbury,  Conn. 

Hartford  High 
School 

LVII 

337 

Abiram  Chamberlain 

1837 

Colebrook,  Conn. 

Williston  Seminary 

LVIII 

■;8i 

Henry  Roberts 

i8i;3 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Yale  University 

tabulated       C   o    n    t 


e    n 


t  s       of      this       Volume 


Early 
Occupation 

Occupation 

Whien  Chosen 

Governor 

Lawyer 

Residence 

When  Chosen 

Governor 

c 

boo 

Date  of 

Service 

Years  of 
Service 

Died 

■a 

bo 

< 

74 

Biography 

Tutor 

Fairfield 

47 

1827-31 

4 

1854 

XXV 

School  Teacher 

Physician 

Hebron 

59 

1831-33 

2 

1858 

85 

XXVI 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

New  Haven 

54 

1833-34-  35-38 

4 

1847 

68 

XXVII 

Shipping 

Farmer 

Cheshire 

54 

1834-35 

I 

1846 

66 

XXVIII 

Merchant 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Hartford 

47 

1838-42 

4 

1868 

77 

XXIX 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Hampton 

43 

1842-44 

2 

1887 

88 

XXX 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

New  Haven 

51 

1844-46 

2 

1863 

70 

XXXI 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Hartford 

50 

1846-47 

I 

1869 

73 

XXXII 

School  Teacher 

Lawyer 

Norwalk 

65 

1847-49 

2 

1857 

75 

XXXIII 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Hartford 

67 

1849-50 

I 

1861 

79 

XXXIV 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Hartford 

42 

1850-53 

3  yrs. 

1868 

60 

XXXV 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Mil  ford 

72 

1853-54 

I  mo, 
II  mos. 

1861 

80 

XXXVI 

School  Teacher 

Lawyer 

New  Haven 

58 

1854-55 

I 

1869 

73 

XXXVII 

School  Teacher 

Lawyer 

Stamford 

40 

1855-57 

2 

1889 

74 

XXXVIII 

Store  Clerk 

Manufacturer 

Salisbury 

53 

1857-58 

I 

1887 

83 

XXXIX 

Surveyor 

Manufacturer 

Norwich 

54 

1858-66 

8 

1875 

72 

XL 

Lawyer 

Editor 

Hartford 

40 

1866-67 

I 

1905 

78 

XLI 

Carpenter 

Manufacturer 

New  Haven 

55 

1867-69,  70-71 

3 

1890 

78 

XLII 

Tanner 

Manufacturer 

Hartf(jrd 

44 

1869-70,  71-73 

3 

1883 

58 

XLIII 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

New  Haven 

52 

1873-77 

3  yrs. 
9  mos. 

1903 

82 

XLIV 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Hartford 

59 

1877-79 

2 

1884 

66 

XLV 

Lawyer 

Lawyer 

Litchfield 

45 

1879-81 

2 

1902 

67 

XLVI 

Machinist 

Manufacturer 

New  Haven 

46 

1881-83 

2 

i8gi 

57 

XLVII 

Newsboy 

Lawyer 

New  London 

42 

1883-85 

2 

— 

XLVIII 

School  Teacher 
Store  Clerk 

Lawyer 

New  Haven 

63 

1885-87 

2 

1901 

80 

XLIX 

Manufacturer 

Ridgefield 

45 

1887-89 

2 

— 

L 

Office  Boy 

Insurance 

Hartford 

51 

1889-93 

4 

— 

LI 

Blacksmith 

President 
Lawyer 

New  Haven 

65 

1893-95 

2 

1895 

68 

LII 

School  Teacher 

Banker 

Middletown 

58 

1895-97 

2 

— 

LIII 

School  Teacher 

Manufacturer 

Wmsted 

65 

1897-99 

2 

1903 

72 

LIV 

School  Teacher 

Manufacturer 

Ridgefield 

61 

1899-19OI 

2 

1904 

66 

LV 

Newspaper 

Lawyer 

Simsbury 

44 

1901-03 

2 

— 

LVI 

Reporter 

^ivil  Engineer 

Banker 

Meriden 

66 

1903-05 

2 

— 

LVII 

^awyer 

Manufacturer 

Hartford 

52 

1905 

— 

LVIII 

Portraits     of    the     Governors     of     Connecticut 


Reproductions  from  Official  Oil  Paintings  in  the  State  Library  in 
the  State  Capitol  at  Hartford,  Connecticut — Collected  under 
the  supervision  of  Edward  Bailey  Eaton  and  reproduced  by 
the  Randall  studio  at  Hartford — -Facsimile  signatures  from 
official  documents  in  the  archives  of  the  State  Library — 
Acknowledgment  is  here  made  of  courtesies  extended  by 
George  S.  Godard,  State  Librarian 

Portrait 

Number  Opposite 

I— JOHN  WINTHROP  from  portrait  at  State  Library  by  George  F.  Wright 
of  Hartford  from  the  original,  by  an  unknown  artist,  in  possession  of  the 
New  York  branch  of  the  Winthrop  family , 28 

2— FITZ  JOHN  WINTHROP  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  an 

unknown  artist  56 

3— GURDON   SALTONSTALL  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 

George  F.  Wright  from  a  portrait  in  possession  of  Yale  University 62 

4— JONATHAN  TRUMBULL  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 
George  F.  Wright  from  portrait  by  the  Governor's  son.  Col.  John  Trum- 
bull     98 

5— SAMUEL  HUNTINGTON   from   portrait  at   State    Library  painted  by 

George  F.  Wright  from  the  painting  in  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia.   112 

6— OLIVER  WOLCOTT  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Ralph 
Earle  about  1784,  and  presented  to  the  State  by  Oliver  Wolcott's  grandson 
in  1830 118 

7— JONATHAN  TRUMBULL,  Jr.,  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 

George  F.  Wright  after  the  original  by  Sully 126 

8— JOHN  TREADWELL  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George 
F.  Wright  after  a  portrait  in  the  possession  of  the  Connecticut  Historical 
Society  by  an  unknown  artist 132 

9— JOHN  COTTON  SMITH  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Albert 

H.  Emmons  of  Hartford,  from  a  miniature 144 

10— OLIVER   WOLCOTT,    Jr.,    from   portrait   at   State   Library   painted   by 

George  F.  Wright  after  an  original  by  Stuart 150 

II— GIDEON  TOMLINSON  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George 

F.  Wright  after  a  portrait  by  an  unknown  artist 160 

12— JOHN  S.  PETERS  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George  F. 

Wright 166 


Portraits     of    the     Governors     of     Connecticut 

Portrait 

Number  Opposite 

13— HENRY  W.  EDWARDS  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George 

F.  Wright  from  a  daguerreotj'pe 172 

14 — SAMUEL  A.  FOOTE  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George  F. 

Wright  from  an  unsigned  portrait 1 76 

i5_WILLIAM  W.  ELLSWORTH  from  portrait  at  State  Library  supposed  to 

have  been  painted  by  George  F.  Wright,  but  unsigned 1 82 

16— CHAUNCEY  F.  CLEVELAND  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 

George  F.  Wright 188 

i7_ROGER  S.  BALDWIN  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George 

F.  Wright 194 

18 — ISAAC  TOUCEY  from  portrait   at   State   Library  painted   by   unknown 

artist 202 

19 — CLARK  BISSELL  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George  F. 

Wright 208 

20— JOSEPH  TRUMBULL  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George 

F.  Wright 214 

21— THOMAS  H.  SEYMOUR  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George 

F.  Wright 218 

22 — CHARLES  H.  POND  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George  F. 

Wright 224 

23— HENRY  DUTTON  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  George  F. 

Wright 228 

24 — WILLIAM  T.  MINOR  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  unknown 

artist 236 

25— ALEXANDER  H.  HOLLEY  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 

Henry  Wilson , 242 

26— WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 

Albert  H.  Emmons 248 

27— JOSEPH  R.  HAWLEY  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Jared  B. 

Flagg,  N.A.,  of  New  Haven 258 

28— JAMES  E.  ENGLISH  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Jared  B. 

Flagg,  N.A.,  of  New  Haven , 268 

29— MARSHALL  JEWELL  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  William 

R.  Wheeler  of  Hartford 276 

30 -CHARLES  R.  INGERSOLL  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 

Jared  B.  Flagg,  N.  A.,  of  New  Haven 284 

31— RICHARD  D.  HUBBARD  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Wil- 
liam Lazarus  of  New  York 292 

32— CHARLES    B.   ANDREWS   from   portrait  at  State   Library  painted  by 

George  F.  Wright 300 


Portraits     of    the     Governors     of     C  o  n  n  e  c  t  i  c  u  t 


Number  OppoBite 

33— HOBART  B.  BIGELOW  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Harry 

I.  Thompson  of  New  Haven 308 

34— THOMAS  M.  WALLER  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Harry 

L  Thompson  of  New  Haven 314 

35— HENRY  B.  HARRISON  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Harry 

L  Thompson  of  New  Haven 320 

36— PHINEAS  C.  LOUNSBURY  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by 

Harry  L  Thompson  of  New  Haven 326 

37— MORGAN   G.   BULKELEY  from  portrait  at   State  Library  painted  by 

Charles  Noel  Flagg  of  Hartford 332 

38— LUZON  B.  MORRIS  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Harry  I. 

Thompson  of  New  Haven 340 

3g_0.  VINCENT  COFFIN  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Charles 

Noel  Flagg  of  Hartford 346 

40 — LORRIN  A.  COOKE  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Charles 

Noel  Flagg  of  Hartford 352 

41— GEORGE  E.  LOUNSBURY  from  late  photograph  by  Randall— There  has 
since  been  placed  a  portrait  at  State  Library  by  Charles  Noel  Flagg 
of  Hartford 358 

42— GEORGE  P.  McLEAN  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Charles 

Noel  Flagg  of  Hartford 364 

43— ABIRAM  CHAMBERLAIN  from  late  photograph  by  Randall— There  has 
since  been  placed  a  portrait  at  State  Library  by  Harry  I.  Thompson  of 
New  Haven 372 

44— HENRY  ROBERTS  from  late  photograph  by  Randall — A  portrait  is  now 

being  painted  for  the  collection  at  the  State  Library 380 

SIR  EDMUND  ANDROS  from  portrait  at  State  Library  painted  by  Charles 
Noel  Flagg  of  Hartford  from  a  colored  photograph  of  a  miniature  in  posses- 
sion of  his  collateral  descendants  in  London  and  an  engraving  prefixed  to 
the  Andros  Tracts  of  the  Prince  Society  is  now  in  the  collection  at  the 
state  Capitol,  but  could  not  be  conveniently  reproduced  at  the  time  of  this 
book  publication 

It  is  believed  that  there  are  no  portraits  nor  likenesses  of  any  kind  extant  of  the 
following  Governors,  as  thus  far  the  State  has  been  unable  to  secure  portraits  of  any  of 
them:  JOHN  HAYNES  (i 594-1653-4),  EDWARD  HOPKINS  (1600-1657),  GEORGE 
WYLLYS  (about  1570-1645),  THOMAS  WELLES  (1598-1660),  JOHN  WEBSTER 

( -1661),  WILLIAM    LEETE   (about   1612-1683),   ROBERT  TREAT  (1622- 

1710),  JOSEPH  TALCOTT  (1669-1741),  JONATHAN  LAW  (1674-1750),  ROGER 
WOLCOTT  (1679-1767),  THOMAS  FITCH  (1700-1774),  WILLIAM  PITKIN  (1694- 
1769),  MATTHEW  GRISWOLD  (1714-1799),  ROGER  GRISWOLD  (1762-1812). 


THE     GOVERNORS     OF     CONNECTICUT 


1639 


1906 


'The 
FIRST    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTl  CUT 

was 
JOHN    HAYNES 

A  wealthy  English  Emigrant 
who  came  to  the  New  World 
in  the  ship  "Griffin"  with 
Thomas  Hooker,  the  father 
of  American  Democracy, 
and  spent  much  of  his 
family  fortune  in  estab- 
lishing the   government 


H       N 


H       A       Y       N       E 


THE  first  governor  of  Connecticut  was  John  Haynes,  who  had 
previously  held  the  same  office  in  the  neighboring  colony  of 
Massachusetts.  He  was  the  oldest  son  of  John  Haynes  of 
Coddicot,  County  of  Hertford,  England,  and  was  born  in  1594. 
The  Haynes  family  was  old  and  wealthy,  and  besides  other  valua- 
ble property  they  owned  Copford  Hall,  a  fine  country-seat  which 
furnished  a  large  income.  The  father  of  Governor  Haynes,  in 
his  will  dated  October  20,  1605,  describes  lands  owned  by  him 
in  the  counties  of  Hertford  and  Essex. 

Governor  John  Haynes  became  an  admirer  of  Thomas 
Hooker  and  emigrated  with  him  to  America.  They  sailed  from 
England  in  the  Griffin  in  1633,  and  in  the  party,  besides  Haynes 
and  Hooker,  were  John  Cotton,  the  eminent  divine,  and  Samuel 
Stone,  who  was  destined  to  take  so  important  a  part  in  the  early 
history  of  Hartford.  They  landed  in  Massachusetts,  September  3, 
1633.  Haynes  was  made  a  freeman  May  14,  1634.  He  was 
chosen  an  assistant,  and  finally  governor,  in  1635.  The  next 
year  he  was  made  an  assistant  again;  but  in  May  1637,  he,  with 
others,    removed   to    Hartford    where  he    was  to   be    one    of  the 


'The        Governors       of       Connecticut 

foremost  men  in  the  infant  colony.  Hartford,  at  that  time,  had  a 
population  of  eight  hundred  persons,  of  which  two  hundred  and 
fifty  were  adult  men. 

Haynes  was  an  original  proprietor  and  owned  a  lot  on  the 
main  street,  "opposite  the  meeting-house  yard,"  but  previous  to 
February,  1639,  he  purchased  from  Richard  Webb  the  lot  on  the 
corner  of  Front  and  Arch  Streets.  In  November,  1637,  Haynes 
presided  over  the  session  of  the  General  Court  and  continued  in. 
that  position  two  years. 

The  first  election  of  officers  of  the  Connecticut  colony,  under 
the  Constitution,  was  held  April  11,  1639.  John  Haynes  was 
elected  governor  and  Roger  Ludlow  deputy  governor.  He  was  so 
satisfactory  as  chief  magistrate  of  the  colony  that  he  was  elected  to 
that  high  office  every  alternate  year  until  his  death.  Haynes  was 
deputy  governor  in  1640,  '44,  '46,  '50  and  '52,  interchanging  with 
Edward  Hopkins.  Originally  no  one  was  to  be  chosen  governor 
two  years  in  succession;  but  in  1660  this  restriction  was  abolished 
by  the  freemen.  Governor  Haynes'  career  in  Hartford  was  emi- 
nently distinguished.  He  was  one  of  the  five  who  prepared  the 
first  Constitution  of  Connecticut,  which  embodies  the  main  part  of 
all  subsequent  state  constitutions,  and  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 

In  1646  Governor  Haynes  made  a  voyage  to  England.  He 
died  at  Hartford,  on  March  1,  1653-4.*  His  will,  dated  1646, 
brought  to  light  the  fact  that  his  residence  in  Connecticut  caused  a 


T'  h   e        G   0  V   e   r   n   0   r  s       of       Connecticut 

serious  shrinkage  in  his  property,  the  estate  inventorying  only  1540 
pounds.  General  Hezekiah  Haynes,  his  son,  wrote  in  1675  of  his 
father,  "It  is  sufficiently  knowne  how  chargeable  the  government 
was  to  the  magistrates  in  that  first  planting  wherein  my  father  bore  a 
considerable  part  to  the  almost  ruin  of  his  family  ....  for  he  has 
transmitted  into  these  parts  between  7000  and  8000  pounds." 
Governor  Haynes  is  described  as  "of  large  estate  and  larger  affec- 
tions, and  dear  to  the  people  by  his  benevolent  virtues  and  disinter- 
ested conduct."  He  was  probably  the  best  representative  of  the 
republicanism  of  the  period  which  Coleridge  termed  "  the  religious 
and  moral  aristocracy."  His  second  wife  was  Mabel  Harlakenden 
of  prominent  family  and  royal  descent. 


*  Note  :  Genealogists  in  recording  the  death  of  Governor  Haynes  use  both 
1653  and  1654;  therefore  in  such  cases  both  dates  are  used  throughout  these  biog- 
raphies. The  apparent  conflict  of  dates  arises  many  times  from  a  misuse  of  the 
years  as  computed  old  style  and  the  reformed  system.  The  old  style  was  in  use 
previous  to  1752.  In  instances  where  the  two  methods  are  combined  in  this  book 
the  old  style  will  be  given  first,  followed  by  the  new — Author 


SECOND   GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

zvas 

EDWARD    HOPKINS 

A  rich  British  Merchant  and 
trader  who  emigrated  to  America 
in  the  ship  "Hector,"  and  upon 
returning  to  England  be- 
came "Keeper  of  the  Fleet 
Prison,"  famous  in  reigns  of 
Mary       and       Elizabeth 


EDWARD 


HOPKINS 


EDWARD  Hopkins,  the  second  governor  of  the  colony,  was, 
hke  his  predecessor,  John   Haynes,  a  wealthy  English  land- 
holder.    He  was  born  at    Shrewsbury  in    1600,  and   early 
in  life   became    a   merchant.      While    his    headquarters   were    in 
London  he  carried  on  an  extensive  business  with   many  foreign 
countries. 

While  yet  a  young  man  Hopkins  had  made  a  comfortable 
fortune,  and  when  in  1637  he  concluded  to  emigrate  to  America  he 
was  classed  as  a  rich  man.  For  a  long  period  he  had  worshipped 
at  St.  Stephen's  parish,  in  Coleman  street,  London,  where  the  Rev. 
John  Davenport  was  the  preacher  and  Theophilus  Eaton  a  member. 
These  three  friends,  Hopkins,  Davenport,  and  Eaton,  sailed  for 
America  in  the  ship  Hector  in  1637.  Hopkins  landed  in  Boston 
and  proceeded  to  Hartford  which  he  made  his  future  home.  Eaton 
and  Davenport  remained  in  Boston  a  few  months  and  then  went  to 
Quinnipiac  where  they  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  New 
Haven  in  1638.  Soon  after  arriving  in  Hartford,  Hopkins  became 
a  prominent  citizen,  and  in  1639  was  chosen  the  first  secre- 
tary   of  the    colony.      The    next  year   he    was  elected  governor, 

7 


T'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

and  continued  in  office  every  other  year  from  1640  to  1654.  In 
the  alternate  years  he  was  usually  deputy  governor  and  very  often  a 
delegate  from  the  colony.  His  mercantile  habits  followed 
Governor  Hopkins  to  his  new  home,  for  we  are  told  he  carried 
on  a  trading  business  in  Hartford  and  established  -trading-posts  far 
up  the  Connecticut  river.  Although  a  man  of  extensive  business 
affairs  and  very  active  all  his  life,  the  governor  never  enjoyed 
good  health  and  constantly  suffered  from  disease.  His  wife  also 
suffered  from  mental  derangement,  which  was  a  source  of  constant 
anxiety  to  the  governor. 

In  1654  Governor  Hopkins  sailed  for  England  on  a  business 
trip  and  with  the  full  intention  of  returning  to  his  adopted  coun- 
try; but  circumstances  prevented  him  from  following  out  his  plan. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  in  England  he  inherited  from  his  brother  the 
position  of  "  Keeper  of  the  Fleet  Prison,"  on  Farringdon  street, 
London,  and  his  title  was  Warden  of  the  Fleet.  This  was  the 
King's  prison  as  far  back  as  the  twelfth  century,  and  obtained  a 
high  historical  interest  from  its  having  been  the  place  of  confine- 
ment of  religious  martyrs  during  the  reigns  of  Mary  and  Elizabeth. 

Hopkins  afterward  became  a  commissioner  of  the  admiralty 
and  navy  and  a  member  of  Parliament.  Governor  Hopkins  died  in 
London  in  either  March  or  April,  1657.  He  was  characterized 
afterward  by  a  writer  as  being  "eminent  for  piety,  kindly  nature 
and  patient  endurance  of  suffering  and  affliction." 


'T'  b   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

About  a  year  previous  to  his  death  Governor  Hopkins 
received  a  letter  from  his  friend  Davenport,  of  New  Haven,  sug- 
gesting the  pressing  need  of  a  collegiate  school  in  that  town.  He 
was  requested  to  aid  the  enterprise;  and  in  replying  the  governor 
wrote,  April  30,  1656:  "If  1  understand  that  a  college  is  begun 
and  like  to  be  carried  on  at  New  Haven  for  the  good  of  posterity, 
I  shall  give  some  encouragement  thereunto,"  When  he  died  one 
year  later  and  the  contents  of  his  will  became  known,  it  was  found 
that  "  New  England  was  his  chief  heir,"  as  Dr.  Bacon  aptly 
remarked  in  recent  years. 

This  will,  dated  March  7,  1657,  ^^^  aside  one  thousand 
pounds  of  his  estate  for  grammar  schools  in  Hartford,  New  Haven, 
and  Hadley,  divided  as  follows:  Hartford  400  pounds.  New 
Haven  312  pounds,  Hadley  308  pounds,  and  Harvard  College 
100  pounds.  He  also  left  five  hundred  pounds  to  be  given  "for 
upholding  and  promoting  the  Kingdom  of  the  Lord  in  those  parts 
of  the  earth."  This  sum  was,  somewhat  peculiarly,  given  to  Har- 
vard by  a  decree  of  chancery  in  1710,  and  the  trustees  invested  it 
in  a  township  purchased  from  the  "praying  Indians,"  and  called 
the  place  Hopkinton,  in  honor  of  the  donor.  The  school  founded 
by  the  bequest  in  Hadley  opened  in  1667,  and  afterward  became 
the  Hopkins  Academy.  In  1889  the  property  was  valued  at 
$57,325.  The  400  pounds  for  Hartford  were  invested  in  local 
real  estate,  and  a  school  erected  in  1665.     In   1778  it  was  named 


T'  6   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

the  Hartford  Grammar  School.  For  the  last  fifty  years  this  school 
and  the  Hartford  High  School  have  been  practically  the  same 
thing.  The  Hopkins  Grammar  School  at  New  Haven  has  always 
been  in  a  flourishing  condition.  It  was  founded  in  1660  and  the 
building  is  on  the  corner  of  High  and  Wall  streets.  It  has  long 
been  a  prominent  preparatory  school  for  Yale  University. 

Governor  Hopkins  was  thus  one  of  our  earliest  American 
philanthropists  and  his  gifts  to  education  set  a  precedent  that  has 
since  become  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  American  progress. 


■"The 
THIRD    GOVERNOR 

of 
C  O  NNE  CTI  CUT 

was 
GEORGE    WYLLYS 

A  distinguished  Englishman  of 
rank  and  means  who  received  a 
university  education  and  left  the 
life  of  a  country  gentleman  to 
assist  in  founding  a  government 
of  civil   and  religious  liberty 


E      O      R      G      E 


W     Y      L     L     Y      S 


GEORGE  Wyllys  was  an  Englishman  of  means  and  rank 
who  became  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  Puritan  movement 
and  decided  to  live  among  the  men  and  women  who  held 
opinions  similar  to  his  own. 

He  was  born  about  1570  in  the  town  of  Fenny  Compton, 
County  of  Warwick,  England.  His  father  was  a  man  of  wealth 
and  position,  who  gave  his  son  as  good  an  education  as  could  be 
obtained  at  an  English  university  of  that  period.  Settling  on  a  fine 
estate  in  Warwickshire,  he  lived  the  life  of  a  country  gentleman, 
and  had  plenty  of  time  to  watch  the  course  of  events  in  England. 

Becoming  interested  in  the  cause  of  the  Puritans,  Wyllys, 
rather  late  in  life,  found  his  native  land  uncongenial  to  him  and 
planned  to  settle  in  this  country.  In  1636  he  sent  his  steward, 
William  Gibbons,  to  America,  accompanied  by  twenty  men,  to 
purchase  for  him  in  Hartford,  "an  estate  suitable  to  his 
rank."  Gibbons  was  also  instructed  to  have  a  dwelling-house 
erected  on  the  estate,  and  to  put  everything  in  readiness  for  the 
advent  of  the  Wyllys  family.  Considerable  time  was  spent  in  pre- 
paration for  the  reception,  for  Wyllys  did  not  arrive  until  1638 — 
two  years  after  his  steward. 

13 


'T^  h   e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

His  estate  embraced  the  square  now  between  Main,  Charter 
Oak,  Governor,  and  Wyllys  streets  in  Hartford,  and  was  apparently 
a  pretentious  establishment  for  the  sparsely  settled  colony. 

Wyllys  was  one  of  the  original  planters  of  Hartford.  On  his 
farm  stood  the  famous  Charter  Oak,  in  which  the  Connecticut 
charter  was  secreted.  There  was  a  legend  current  for  many 
years  that  Governor  Wyllys'  steward.  Gibbons,  gave  orders  to  have 
the  ancient  oak  cut  down,  but  that  a  party  of  Indians  dissuaded 
him  from  his  plan  to  remove  it  from  the  estate. 

After  settling  in  Hartford,  Wyllys  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
transacting  of  public  business,  and  was  one  of  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  of  1639.  On  April  11,  1639,  he  was  chosen  as  one 
of  the  six  magistrates  of  Connecticut,  and  held  the  office  until 
his  death. 

In  1641  he  was  elected  deputy  governor,  and  the  next  year 
governor  of  the  colony.  He  was  also  commissioner  of  the  United 
Colonies.  Holding  the  office  of  governor  one  year,  Wyllys  did 
not  appear  prominently  after  his  retirement  from  office,  and  he  died 
in  Hartford,  March  9,  1644-45. 

He  left  four  children,  one  of  whom,  Samuel  Wyllys,  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1653  and  was  magistrate  in 
Connecticut  for  thirty  years. 

A  grandson  of  Governor  Wyllys  was  secretary  of  the  colony 
from  1712  to  1735;  his  son  and  successor,  from  1735  to  1796;  and 

14 


'^  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

his  son  and  successor  from  1796  to  1810;  so  that  the  office 
remained  in  the  Wyllys  family  for  the  unusually  long  period  of 
ninety-eight  years.  This  record  was  never  outdone  in  Connecticut. 
The  next  best  record  was  the  Whiting  family,  members  of  which 
held  the  office  of  treasurer  for  seventy  years. 

Governor  Wyllys  was  not  a  great  man,  like  some  of  his  con- 
temporaries, but,  as  a  biographer  has  said,  "  He  was  famed  for  his 
social  and  domestic  virtues,  his  simplicity  of  manners  and  his  love 
for  civil  and  religious  liberty." 


^5 


The 
FOURTH  GOVERNOR 

of 

CONNECTICUT 

was 

THOMAS  WELLES 

An  Englishman  believed  to  have 
been  connected  vrith  nobility  but 
whose  antecedents  across  the 
water  still  remain  a  mystery  and 
even  his  burial  place  is  unknown 
but  is  said  by  genealogists  to  be 
either  in  Wethersfield  or  Hartford 


THOMAS 


WELLES 


THOMAS  Welles,  the  fourth  governor  of  Connecticut  colony, 
was  born  in  England  in  1598,  but  where  he  came  from  has 
not  yet  been  determined.  Absolutely  nothing  is  known  of 
his  antecedents  across  the  water. 

One  of  Governor  Welles'  descendants,  Hon.  Gideon  Welles  of 
Hartford,  wrote  of  his  ancestor,  the  governor,  in  1843  •  "  ^7  father, 
who  died  in  1834,  aged  eighty  years,  used  to  tell  me  that  our 
English  ancestors  were  once  of  the  nobility;  that  amongst  his  earli- 
est recollections  were  the  strong  injunctions  of  his  grandfather  and 
his  great  uncle,  Samuel  Welles  of  Boston,  never  to  omit  the  letter 
"e"  in  his  name ;  that  the  family  had  once  great  estates  of  which 
they  were  wrongfully  deprived  and  that  in  due  time  they  would 
return.  These  were  the  remarks  of  the  old  men  to  him,  born 
about  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Governor  Welles,  and  who  in 
childhood  imbibed  impressions  brought  from  the  parent  land." 

A  tradition,  long  believed  to  be  true,  connected  Welles  with 
the  service  of  Lord  Say-and-Sele,  and  made  him  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Saybrook  in  1636.  This  has  been  quite  thoroughly 
disproven  in  the  light  of  more  recent  investigation,  and  all  state- 

19 


T'  h  e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

ments  of  this  sort  concerning  the  governor's  early  career  in  America 
are  purely  conjectural. 

There  is  absolutely  nothing  to  show  that  Governor  Welles 
was  ever  secretary  to  Lord  Say-and-Sele,  but  on  the  other  hand  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  Governor  Welles  came  to  Hartford  in 
1636  from  Boston.  A  copy  of  a  grant  in  which  he  figures  tends  to 
confirm  this  statement.  The  first  appearance  of  Governor  Welles 
in  Hartford  was  on  March  28,  1637,  according  to  the  Colonial 
Records.  He  was  one  of  the  magistrates  in  1637  and  he  held  the 
office  for  many  years.  He  rose  rapidly  in  the  councils  of  state,  for 
at  the  election  in  1639  he  was  chosen  the  first  treasurer  of  the  infant 
colony,  holding  the  office  until  1641  when  he  asked  to  be 
relieved.  He  was  next  secretary  of  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies.  In  1649  he  became  one  of  the  commissioners  and 
served  for  some  years. 

He  was  chosen  governor  in  1655  and  1656;  the  next  year  he 
was  deputy  governor  and  in  1658  was  re-elected  governor  of  the 
colony.  The  following  year  he  was  deputy  governor  again,  and 
that  ended  his  eminently  successful  and  honorable  public  career. 
Governor  Welles  went  to  Wethersfield  to  live  in  1643  '^'^^  ^^  ^\^^ 
in  that  town  on  January  14,  1660,  (1657,  o.  s.). 

Concerning  the  exact  spot  where  the  governor's  remains  lie 
buried,  there  has  been  considerable  controversy  among  the 
historians. 


1'  b   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

Albert  Welles,  a  biographer  of  the  governor,  says  that  his 
remains  were  buried  "on  the  top  of  the  hill  near  the  fence  on  the 
south  side  of  the  old  yard,  in  the  rear  of  the  meeting-house,  where 
the  remains  of  the  Welles  family  for  many  generations  now  lie 
grouped." 

Benjamin  Trumbull,  the  eminent  historian,  wrote  regarding 
this:  "Though  Governor  Welles  was  first  buried  at  Wethersfield 
his  remains  were  afterward  removed  to  Hartford.  Four  of  the  first 
governors  of  Connecticut,  Haynes,  Wyllys,  Welles  and  Webster,  lie 
buried  at  Hartford  without  a  monument.  Considering  their  many 
and  important  public  services  this  is  remarkable.  But  their  virtues 
have  embalmed  their  names  and  will  render  their  names  venerable 
to  the  latest  posterity." 

One  of  the  very  best  authorities  on  this  question  contends  that 
the  governor  was  buried  at  Wethersfield  and  was  never  removed 
from  that  town.     This  seems  to  be  the  general  belief. 

A  writer  says  of  the  governor :  "  Governor  Welles  possessed  the 
full  confidence  of  the  people,  and  many  of  the  most  important  of 
the  early  laws  and  papers  pertaining  to  the  founding  of  the  colony 
were  drafted  by  him.  The  successful  issue  of  Connecticut 
from  her  difficulty  concerning  the  fort  erected  at  Saybrook  on  one 
side  and  the  Dutch  encroachments  on  the  other  was  largely  due 
to  his  skill  and  wisdom." 


The 
FIFTH  GOVERNOR 

of 

CONNECTICUT 
was 

JOHN    WEBSTER 

His  early  life  is  shrouded  in 
mystery  but  family  tradition 
locates  his  boyhood  in  Warwick, 
England,  and  he  emigrated  to 
America  with  the  first  settlers, 
becoming  prominent  in  the 
early  controversies  in  the  colony 


O       H       N 


WEBSTER 


THE    early    life    of   John   Webster   is  shrouded    in  mystery. 
Family   tradition   said    that   he    was   from   the    County   of 
Warwick,  England,  but  even  this  is  indefinite.     The  date  of 
his  birth  is  unknown  and  there   is   nothing  handed   down   to  us 
regarding  his  ancestry. 

His  name  first  appears  in  history  when  he  became  one  ot  the 
original  proprietors  of  Hartford. 

Webster  must  have  been  one  of  the  first  settlers,  for  it  is 
recorded  in  1639  that  he  owned  a  lot  on  the  east  side  of  the 
thoroughfare  now  called  Governor  street.  His  prominence  in  the 
town  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  in  1637-8  he  sat  with  the 
Court  of  Magistrates,  and  was  a  magistrate  himself  from  the  year 
1639  to  1655.  In  the  latter  year  Webster  was  chosen  to  the 
office  of  deputy  governor  of  the  colony,  and  in  1656  was  advanced 
to  governor.  He  held  the  office  one  year.  During  the  year  1642 
Governor  Webster  was  a  member  of  the  commission  that  framed 
the  code  of  criminal  laws  for  the  colony.  In  1654  he  was  one  of 
the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies.  Governor  W^ebster  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  famous  church  controversy  at  Hartford. 
Professor  Johnston,  in  his  scholarly  book,  "  Connecticut,"  says  the 

25 


The        Governors        of       Connecticut. 

nominal  beginning  of  this  trouble  was  after  the  death  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Hooker  in  1647.  "Goodwin,  the  ruling  elder,"  writes 
Johnston,  "wanted  Michael  Wigglesworth  as  Hooker's  successor; 
and  Stone  the  surviving  minister,  refused  to  allow  the  proposition 
to  be  put  to  a  vote.  The  Goodwin  party — twenty-one  in  number, 
including  Deputy  Governor  Webster — withdrew  from  the  church; 
the  Stone  party  undertook  to  discipline  them;  a  council  of 
Connecticut  and  New  Haven  churches  failed  to  reconcile  the 
parties;  the  General  Court  kindly  assumed  the  office  of  mediator 
and  succeeded  in  making  both  parties  furious;  and  finally  a  coun- 
cil at  Boston  in  1659  induced  the  Goodwin  minority,  now  some 
sixty  in  number,  to  remove  to  Hadley,  Massachusetts." 

The  year  following  his  removal  to  Hadley,  Governor  Webster 
was  admitted  as  a  freeman  in  that  colony.  His  career  in  Hadley 
was  destined  to  be  brief,  however,  for  he  died  on  April  5,  1661  — 
nearly  two  years  after  his  arrival.  He  was  survived  by  his  widow 
and  seven  children. 

The  historian,  Hollister,  speaks  of  Webster  as  an  "honored 
name,"  and  "whose  virtues  are  still  perpetuated  in  those  who 
inherit  his  blood."  Probably  the  most  distinguished  descendant  of 
Governor  Webster  was  Noah  Webster,  the  famous  lexicographer, 
who  was  born  in  Hartford  in  1758  and  died  at  New  Haven,  May 
28,  1843. 


26 


The 
SIXTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

JOHN    WINTHROP 

An  English  scholar  who  was 
educated  at  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  and  studied  law  in 
the  Inner  Temple,  later  enter- 
ing the  English  naval  service 
and  finally  coming  to  the 
New  World  where  he  became 
the  first  brilliant  diplomat 


^^^^  ^j^^i'^fz 


JOHN 


W     1      N     T     H      R     O      P 


THE  brilliant  career  of  John  Winthrop,  as  governor  of 
Connecticut,  led  the  historian,  Brancroft,  to  write  that  "the 
New  World  was  full  of  his  praises."  He  is  generally  con- 
ceded to  have  been  the  most  distinguished  and  scholarly  of  the 
early  governors  of  the  colony.  His  father,  John  Winthrop, 
commonly  called  the  older,  was  governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  the 
founder  of  the  famous  Winthrop  family  in  America — a  family  that 
has  produced  many  able  men  and  women. 

John  Winthrop,  the  younger,  was  born  in  Groton  Manor, 
England,  February  12,  1606.  He  received  a  careful  education  at 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  afterward  entered  the  Inner  Temple, 
where  he  studied  law.  Finding  this  distasteful,  he  entered  the 
English  naval  service,  sailing  with  George  Villiers,  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham.  He  took  part  in  the  unsuccessful  expedition  for  the 
relief  of  the  Protestants  at  La  Rochelle.  After  a  tour  on  the 
Continent,  Winthrop  returned  to  England  in  1629  and  found  that 
his  father  and  closest  friends  were  preparing  to  sail  for  Massachu- 
setts. 

In  1631  he  followed  his  father  to  New  England  and  was  soon 
elected  an  assistant  in  Massachusetts  colony.     He  was  one  of  the 

29 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

settlers  of  the  town  of  Ipswich,  where  he  owned  a  large  estate. 
Winthrop  returned  to  England  in  1634.  On  July  7,  1635,  articles 
of  agreement  were  drawn  up  between  Winthrop  and  Lord  Say-and- 
Sele,  with  several  others,  empowering  Winthrop  to  erect  a  fort  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut  river  and  creating  him  governor  of 
the  territory  for  one  year.  His  commission  was  sealed  and  de- 
livered on  July  15,  1635,  and  he  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
about  November  24th  of  the  same  year.  After  his  term  of  office 
expired  Winthrop  went  to  Massachusetts  where  he  busied  himself 
with  scientific  investigation.  He  is  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  best 
"  chymists"  of  his  age. 

In  1640  he  procured  a  grant  of  Fisher's  Island,  and  on  Au- 
gust 3,  1641,  left  for  England  where  he  spent  the  next  two  years. 
Returning  to  Massachusetts  in  1643,  he  undertook  to  develop  the 
iron  industry  in  the  vicinity  of  Braintree. 

Soon  after  he  acquired  considerable  property  where  New  Lon- 
don now  stands,  and  removed  to  that  place,  which  he  made  his 
future  home.  Miss  Caulkins,  the  historian  of  New  London,  calls 
him  the  founder  of  the  town,  and  adds  that  Winthrop's  home  on 
Fisher's  Island  was  the  first  English  residence  in  that  territory. 
He  brought  thither  the  first  company  of  settlers,  planned  the  town, 
founded  the  government,  fixed  the  bounds,  and  conciliated  the 
Indians.  In  1650  he  transferred  his  residence  to  New  London, 
and  from  then  on  took  a  leading  part  in  the  government  of  the 

30 


^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

town  and  colony.  Rising  rapidly  from  a  magistrate  in  1650, 
Winthrop  was  elected  governor  of  the  colony  in  1657.  ^^  ^^^ 
re-elected  to  the  same  office  in  1659.  Originally  no  man  was  to 
be  chosen  to  the  office  of  governor  two  years  in  succession ;    but  in 

1660  the  General  Court,  in  their  anxiety  to  retain  Winthrop  as 
governor,  requested  the  freemen  of  the  colony  to  abolish  the 
the  restriction  of  re-election.  This  was  done  immediately  and  then 
John  Winthrop  began  his  career  as  governor,  which  covered  a 
longer  period  than  was  ever  reached  by  any  chief  executive  in 
Connecticut,  Gurdon  Saltonstall  and  Joseph  Talcott  in  the  next 
century,  however,  were  each  governor  for  seventeen  years. 
Governor  Winthrop  was  in  England  for  a  year  and  a  half,  from 

1661  to  1663,  when  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society. 
Possessing  much  tact  and  Slaving  a  thorough  knowledge  of  court 
procedure,  as  well  as  considerable  influence  with  Charles  the 
Second,  Winthrop  obtained  from  the  king  the  famous  charter 
which  consolidated  the  colonies  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven. 
In  this  charter  of  1662  Winthrop  was  named  the  first  governor  of 
the  United  Colonies,  and  in  this  office  he  passed  the  remaining  por- 
tion of  his  life.  Governor  Winthrop  died  at  Boston,  April  5,  1676, 
while  attending  a  meeting  of  the  commissioners  of  the  colonies. 

Winthrop  endeared  himself  to  the  people  of  Connecticut,  and 
historial  writers  all  agree  that  his  Puritanism  was  of  the  finest  type ; 
that  he  had  the  good  will  of  even  those  who  differed  widely  from 


'T'  h   e       Governors       of       C  o   7i   n   e  c   t  i  c   ii   t 

him.  In  the  kindred  sciences  of  chemistry  and  medicine  he  was 
one  of  the  best  authorities  of  his  time.  Trumbull  called  him  "  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  characters  in  New  England,"  HoUister 
wrote:  "  It  is  difficult  to  consider  him  as  an  individual  character  so 
inseparably  is  his  bright  image  blended  with  that  of  the  colony 
herself  during  the  most  doubtful,  and  at  the  same  time,  most  glori- 
ous period  of  her  existence." 

Bancroft  paid  him  a  glowing  tribute  when  he  wrote:  "  Puri- 
tans and  Quakers  and  the  freemen  of  Rhode  Island  were  alike  his 
eulogists.  The  Dutch  at  New  York  had  confidence  in  his  integ- 
rity, and  it  is  the  beautiful  testimony  of  his  father  that  '  God  gave 
him  favor  in  the  eyes  of  all  with  whom  he  had  to  do.' " 

Such  careers  shine  as  a  brilliant  light  in  the  hazy  horizon  of 
the  past. 


32 


The 
SEVENTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
WILLIAM    LEETE 

A  sturdy  English  lawyer  who  as 
a  clerk  in  the  Bishop's  Court  at 
Cambridge  witnessed  the  oppression 
and  cruelties  imposed  on  unoffend- 
ing Puritans  and  became  their 
counselor  and  guide  in  the  New 
Land    of    Liberty    and    Justice 


WILLIAM 


L     E      E      T      E 


WILLIAM  Leete  is  generally  known  in  history  as  the 
sturdy  governor  who  sheltered  and  defended  the  regicides 
when  they  were  in  Guilford.  This  was  one  of  the  unim- 
portant incidents  of  a  particularly  busy  life,  yet  it  has  found  a  place 
in  various  local  histories  and  in  more  pretentious  biographical 
works.  His  ancestors  were  members  of  an  ancient  family.  Gerard 
Letie,  or  Leete,  owned  lands  in  1209,  during  the  reign  of  King 
John,  in  Morden,  Cambridgeshire.  Matthew  Lety,  John  Leet, 
Henry  Leete,  were  all  Englishmen  of  prominence  and  their  names 
appear  in  the  public  records  previous  to  the  year  1550. 

William  Leete  was  the  son  of  John  Leete,  of  Dodington,  and 
Anna  Shute,  daughter  of  one  of  the  justices  of  the  King's  Court. 
He  was  born  in  Dodington,  Huntingdonshire,  England,  in  1612 
or  1613.  Educated  as  a  lawyer,  Leete  was  for  a  time  clerk  of  a 
Bishop's  Court  at  Cambridge,  where  he  witnessed  the  oppression 
and  cruelties  imposed  on  the  unoffending  Puritans. 

In  1643  Leete  and  Samuel  Desborough  met  the  Court  at 
New  Haven,  when  New  Haven  colony  was  planned  and  organ- 
ized. He  was  one  of  the  deputies  from  Guilford  to  the  General 
Court  of  New  Haven  colony  until  1650;  and  from  1651  to  1658 

35 


T'  h   e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

was  magistrate  of  the  town.  During  the  latter  year  he  was  elected 
deputy  governor  of  the  colony,  and  continued  in  the  office  until  he 
was  chosen  governor  in  1661.  He  held  this  position  until  the 
union  of  the  colony  with  Connecticut  in  1664.  After  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  colonies  Leete  was  an  assistant  until  1669  when  he 
was  chosen  deputy  governor  of  Connecticut  colony.  He  was  re- 
elected to  this  office  annually  until  1676,  when  he  became  governor 
of  the  colony. 

Shortly  after  his  election  as  governor,  Leete  moved  to  Hart- 
ford from  Guilford,  and  he  resided  in  that  town  until  his  death 
in  1683.  His  remains  were  buried  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Hart- 
ford ;  and  Treasurer  John  Talcott  made  an  entry  in  his  account 
book  that  it  cost  the  colony  eleven  pounds  of  powder  for  firing  the 
"  Great  Gun  at  Gov'r  leetes  funerall." 

Governor  Leete  was  a  popular  official;  his  administration 
abounded  with  good  results  through  a  particularly  difficult  period, 
and  his  great  integrity  won  the  approbation  of  friends  and  enemies. 
Dr.  Trumbull  wrote  of  him:  "He  died  full  of  years  and  good 
works."  Palfrey  summed  up  his  public  life  in  these  words :  "  Leete 
was  an  intelligent  and  virtuous  ruler  and  Connecticut  prospered 
under  his  care." 

The  story  of  Governor  Leete's  experience  with  the  regicides — 
Goffe  and  Whalley — when  they  fied  to  New  England,  upon  the 
restoration  of  Charles  L,  is  as  follows : 

36 


T'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Ezra  Stiles  in  that  curious  little  volume,  "  The  Judges,"  states 
that  GofFe  and  Whalley  were  in  Guilford  twice.  The  first  time 
was  when  they  were  flying  from  Boston  to  New  Haven.  The 
second  visit  has  been  the  foundation  of  a  story,  which,  according  to 
Dr.  Bernard  C.  Steiner,  the  brilliant  historian  of  Guilford,  is  much 
disputed  as  some  of  the  details  are  clearly  wrong.  GofFe  and 
Whalley  probably  went  to  Governor  Leete's  home  and  were  secreted 
there  several  days  and  nights.  Finally  the  judges  returned  to  their 
place  of  concealment  in  New  Haven.  There  is  a  tradition  given 
credence  in  several  histories  that  the  governor's  daughter,  Anna, 
who  afterward  became  the  wife  of  John  Trowbridge  of  New 
Haven,  fed  the  regicides  from  the  governor's  table.  Dr.  Steiner, 
an  eminent  authority,  says  these  men  were  hidden  in  Guilford,  if  at 
all,  in  June,  1 66 1 .     President  Stiles  relates  the  story  thus : 

"  It  is  an  anecdote  still  preserved  in  that  family  that  she  ( the 
governor's  daughter  Anna)  used  often  to  say  that  when  she  was  a 
little  girl  these  good  men  lay  concealed  some  time  in  the  cellar  of 
her  father's  store,  but  she  did  not  know  it  until  afterward ;  that  she 
well  remembered  that  at  the  time  of  it  she  and  the  rest  of  the  child- 
ren were  strictly  prohibited  from  going  near  that  store  for  some 
days,  and  that  she  and  the  children  wondered  at  it  and  could  not 
perceive  the  reason  of  it  at  that  time,  though  they  knew  afterward." 

"  Tradition  says  that  they  were,  however,  constantly  supplied 
with  victuals  from  the  govemor's  table,  sent  to  them  by  the  maid 

37 


l'  b  e       Governors       of       Contiecticut 

who  long  after  was  wont  to  glory  in  it — that  she  had  fed  those 
heavenly  men."  As  the  governor's  daughter,  Anna,  referred  to  in 
this  anecdote,  was  born  on  March  lo,  1661,  and  the  regicides  were 
there  in  June  of  the  same  year,  the  error  is  obvious. 


38 


The 
EIGHTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
C  O  N  N  E  CTI  CUT 

was 
ROBERT     TREAT 

An  English  planter  who  at  the  age 
of  eighteen  years  began  his  oflBcial 
services  in  the  New  World  and  dur- 
ing a  critical  period  led  the  state 
to  victory  through  legislative  coun- 
cil and  battle,  dying  honored  and 
beloved  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine 


R      O       B      E      R 


T      R      E      A 


THE  priceless  services  of  Robert  Treat  rendered  to  the  colony 
during  a  critical  period,  have  always  been  appreciatively 
recorded  by  the  historians  of  the  state.  Born  in  England  in 
1622,  Treat  came  to  America  with  his  father,  Richard  Treat, 
early  in  the  century  and  settled  in  Wethersfield.  The  elder  Treat 
owned  a  farm  of  nine  hundred  acres,  which  is  now  comprised  in  the 
town  of  Glastonbury;  was  a  patentee  of  the  charter,  a  man  of  high 
character  and  great  worth.  Robert  Treat  lived  in  Wethersfield 
only  a  short  time,  as  he  removed  to  the  town  of  Milford  in  1639. 
At  the  first  meeting  of  the  planters  Treat,  then  a  lad  of  eighteen, 
was  appointed  as  one  of  a  commission  of  nine  to  aid  in  surveying  and 
laying  out  the  lands  of  the  town.  He  was  elected  a  deputy  in  1653, 
and  served  until  1659.  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  office  again  in  1665.  Treat 
served  as  an  assistant  from  1659  to  1664,  and  was  strongly  opposed 
to  the  union  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  colonies.  When  the 
consolidation  was  finally  effected  he  was  one  of  a  party  who  remov- 
ed to  New  Jersey  and  founded  the  present  city  of  Newark.  The 
settlers  elected  him  the  first  town  clerk  of  the  settlement  and  granted 
him  a  lot  of  eight  acres.  In  1673  Treat  was  appointed  a  major  of 
Connecticut  troops  and  he  returned  to  this  state  two  years  later. 
Three  years  after  his  return  Connecticut  thought  enough  of  Treat's 


41 


1^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

military  ability  to  choose  him  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  then 
engaged  in  war  against  King  Philip.  By  his  gallantry  and  bravery 
he  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  ridding  Northfield  and  Springfield  of 
the  Indians  who  infested  that  locality. 

When  the  Indians  made  their  assault  upon  Hadley,  Treat 
drove  them  from  the  village ;  and  in  the  celebrated  fight  with  the 
Narragansetts  on  December  19,  1675,  near  what  is  now  South 
Kingston,  Rhode  Island,  his  courage  rivaled  Captain  Mason, 
before  him  and  General  Putnam  in  the  following  century. 
With  the  Connecticut  troops  he  led  the  forlorn  hope  against  the 
block-house  where  Philip's  sharp-shooters  had  more  than  once 
driven  back  the  men  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  one  of  the  last  to 
leave  the  fort  when  the  Indian  power  was  broken.  His  prowess 
was  fully  recognized  and  in  1676  the  freemen  chose  Treat  as 
deputy  governor. 

In  1683  he  was  elected  governor  of  the  colony,  serving  in  that 
office  for  fifteen  years.  Then  he  declined  to  act  longer  and  was 
chosen  deputy  governor.  In  1683  Governor  Treat  was  a  member 
of  the  commission  to  settle  the  controversy  between  Connecticut 
and  the  governor  of  New  York.  New  York  claimed  that  three 
towns — Rye,  Greenwich,  and  Stamford — belonged  to  that  colony, 
but  a  compromise  was  agreed  upon  whereby  New  York  retained 
the  town  of  Rye,  and  Greenwich  and  Stamford  were  conceded  to 
Connecticut. 

42 


T'  h   €       Governors       of       Connecticut 

During  the  period  of  the  Andros  usurpation  Governor  Treat 
steered  the  destinies  of  Connecticut  in  what  is  generally  conceded 
to  be  a  masterly  manner. 

When  Sir  Edmund  Andros  became  governor  of  New  York 
and  chief  magistrate  of  English  America,  Governor  Treat  feared 
that  the  colony  would  be  divided  and  he  decided  upon  a  pacific 
course.  The  people  of  this  colony  acted  loyally  toward  Andros 
when  he  went  to  Hartford,  October  i,  1687,  and  Treat  was  made  a 
member  of  his  council  a  month  later.  Connecticut  suffered  but 
little  from  Andros,  which  is  undoubtedly  due  to  Treat's  great  tact. 
The  English  Revolution  came  in  due  time  and  when  the  news  of  it 
reached  Boston,  in  April,  1689,  Andros  was  thrust  into  custody. 
Treat  was  quietly  awaiting  his  chance,  and  on  the  9th  of  May  he 
resumed  the  office  of  governor.  The  assembly  was  ordered  to  meet 
in  June,  and  William  and  Mary  were  proclaimed  with  enthusiasm. 
The  old  time  government  swung  into  motion  again  and  the  story 
of  Andros  entered  into  history. 

Governor  Treat  died  at  his  home  in  Milfbrd  on  July  12, 
1710,  having  reached  the  great  age  of  eighty-nine  years.  His  son, 
Samuel  Treat,  was  a  distinguished  clergyman  in  Massachusetts  and 
grandfather  of  Robert  Treat  Paine,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

In  summing  up  the  life  of  Robert  Treat,  Hollister's  opinion  of 
him  seems  the  best.     He  says  :    "  Governor  Treat  was  not  only  a 

43 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

man  of  high  courage,  but  was  one  of  the  most  cautious  military 
leaders,  and  possessed  a  quick  sagacity  united  with  a  breadth  of 
understanding  that  enabled  him  to  see  at  a  glance  the  most  complex 
relations  that  surrounded  the  field  of  battle.  He  was  a  planter  of 
that  hospitable  order  that  adorned  New  England  in  an  age  when 
hospitality  was  accounted  a  virtue,  and  when  the  term  gentleman  was 
something  more  than  an  empty  title.  His  deep  piety  has  still  a 
traditionary  fame  in  the  neighborhood  where  he  spent  the  brief  por- 
tion of  his  time  that  he  was  allowed  to  devote  to  the  culture  of  the 
domestic  and  social  virtues. 

There  existed  between  Robert  Treat  and  John  Winthrop  the 
most  cordial  friendship,  growing  out  of  the  admiration  that  each 
felt  for  the  character  and  abilities  of  the  other,  and  also  on  account 
of  the  part  they  took — the  one  procuring  the  charter,  the  other  in 
vindicating  its  jurisdiction  and  in  preserving  it  from  the  violence  of 
its  enemies." 


44 


'The 
ROYAL     GOVERNOR 

of 

CONNECTICUT 

was 

SIR  EDMUND  ANDROS 

An  English  aristocrat  of  the  king's 
court  who  temporarily  usurped  the 
power  of  government  and  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  colony's 
charter  during  a  crisis  in  the  early 
history  of  the  commonwealth  but 
was    deposed    after    brief    authority 


SIR         EDMUND 


A     N     D     R     O     S 


STUDENTS  of  Connecticut  history  have  hesitated  whether  or 
no    they    should   consider   Sir    Edmund    Andros  a    rightful 

governor  of  this  commonwealth,  but  it  has  been  generally  held 
that  he  was  a  usurper  during  the  time  the  government  was  in  his 
hands.  Good  authorities  in  our  constitutional  history  differ  as  to  the 
legality  of  his  title,  but  as  good  historian  as  the  late  Charles  Jeremy 
Hoadly  remarked  one  day,  in  scornful  allusion  to  some  who 
objected  to  having  Sir  Edmund's  portrait  in  the  state  library :  "  He 
was  as  really  governor  of  Connecticut  as  any  of  the  rest  of  them." 

In  either  case,  it  would  appear  that  a  sketch  of  this  able  royal 
governor  should  be  included  in  the  volume  of  the  lives  of  Con- 
necticut's executives. 

Sir  Edmund  Andros  was  an  English  aristocrat,  reared  in  the 
lap  of  English  society,  and  his  early  life  was  passed  among  the  lords 
and  nobles  that  composed  the  court  of  the  English  king.  He  was 
born  in  London,  December  6,  1637,  where  his  father  was  an  officer 
of  the  royal  household.  The  boy  decided  upon  a  military  career 
and  at  an  early  age  became  a  soldier  in  Rupert's  dragoons;  two 
years  later  he  succeeded  the  elder  Andros  as  bailiff  of  Guernsey. 

47 


The       Governors        of       Connecticut 

In  1674  he  was  appointed  by  James,  Duke  of  York,  to  the 
office  of  governor  of  the  province  of  New  York,  and  he  remained 
in  that  capacity  for  seven  years.  Because  of  his  hberal  claims  of 
jurisdiction  Andros  became  involved  during  this  period  in  some 
warm  disputes  with  the  neighboring  colonies.  His  trouble  with 
Connecticut  authorities  commenced  at  Saybrook  in  July,  1675,  the 
year  after  he  received  his  appointment.  During  the  month  which 
saw  the  opening  of  King  Philip's  war  at  Plymouth,  Sir  Edmund 
sailed  eastward  through  the  Sound,  and  the  voyage  threw  the  Con- 
necticut authorities  into  consternation.  Captain  Thomas  Bull, 
commanding  at  Saybrook,  was  notified  by  the  officials  at  Hartford 
that  the  royalist  governor  was  going  through  the  Sound  with  the 
avowed  intention  of  aiding  the  colony  against  the  ravages  of  the 
Indians.  He  was  instructed,  in  case  the  representative  of  the  Duke 
of  York  should  call  at  his  station,  to  assure  his  excellency  that  Con- 
necticut had  made  its  own  necessary  precautions  against  the  Indians, 
and  was  allowed  to  infer  that  the  colony  had  more  to  fear  from  an 
invasion  by  the  governor  of  New  York  than  from  an  onslaught  of 
Indians.  Captain  Bull  was  also  ordered  not  to  permit  the  landing  of 
troops  from  New  York,  who  accompanied  Andros.  Royal  governors 
were  never  popular  in  Connecticut,  and  the  people  did  not  take 
kindly  to  what  they  thought  was  to  be  an  invasion  of  their  territory. 

The  orders  sent  to  Bull  were  terse  but  suggestive :   "  And  you 
are  to  keep  the  King's  colors  standing  there,  under  His  Majesty's 

48 


^  h   e\       Governors       of       Connecticut 

lieutenant,  the  Governor  of  Connecticut;  and  if  any  other  colors 
be  set  up  there,  you  are  not  to  suffer  them  to  stand  ....  But  you 
are  in  His  Majesty's  name  required  to  avoid  striking  the  first  blow; 
but  if  they  begin,  then  you  are  to  defend  yourselves,  and  do  your 
best  to  secure  His  Majesty's  interest  and  the  peace  of  the  whole 
colony  of  Connecticut,  in  our  possession." 

But  there  were  no  blows  struck,  and  Sir  Edmund  contented 
himself  with  simply  landing  and  reading  the  duke's  patent,  which 
proceeding  was  duly  protested  against  by  Captain  Bull  and  other 
accredited  officials.  This  ended  the  matter  for  the  time  being,  but 
during  the  years  that  followed  he  was  closely  watched  by  the  Con- 
necticut authorities. 

In  1680  Andros  seized  the  government  of  New  Jersey  and 
dethroned  Philip  Carteret,  but  the  year  following  he  was  recalled  by 
the  king  and  accused  of  maladministration.  After  successfully 
clearing  himself  of  such  charges  as  the  home  government  was  able 
to  bring  against  him,  Andros  retired  to  Guernsey.  When  James, 
the  Second,  became  king.  Sir  Edmund  was  appointed  in  1686 
governor  of  all  New  England,  which  comprised  the  American 
settlements  between  Maryland  on  the  south  and  Canada  on  the 
north,  with  the  exception  of  Pennsylvania.  This  was  an  almost 
unlimited  field  for  operations,  and  he  proceeded  to  exercise  his 
authority.  The  first  step,  so  far  as  Connecticut  was  concerned,  was 
when  Governor  Treat  received  in  July   1686,  two  writs  of  quo 

49 


1'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

warranto  against  the  colony  of  Connecticut,  which  had  been  issued 
the  previous  year.  These  called  upon  the  officers  of  the  colony  to 
show  proper  authority  for  the  exercise  of  their  political  powers  or 
else  abandon  them  altogether. 

Andros  landed  at  Boston  on  December  21,  1686,  armed  with 
his  far  reaching  commission,  and  the  people  of  Connecticut  looked 
on  with  alarm;  for  they  soon  learned  that  the  new  royal  governor 
meant  completely  to  abrogate,  if  possible,  their  charter  of  1662. 
After  putting  into  operation  at  Boston  some  obnoxious  laws  that 
turned  the  people  of  that  colony  against  him,  he  proceeded  to  rule 
with  a  high  hand. 

As  one  writer  has  said:  "Although  proclaiming  religious 
fteedom,  he  restrained  the  liberty  of  the  press,  arbitrarily  levied 
enormous  taxes,  and  compelled  landowners  to  procure  new  titles 
to  their  property,  for  which  exorbitant  charges  were  made.  These 
and  similar  actions  performed  in  accordance  with  instructions 
received  in  England,  gave  great  offense." 

And  well  they  might.  Next,  Andros  turned  his  attention  to 
Connecticut,  on  which  he  had  looked  with  anxious  eyes  since  the 
day  eleven  years  before  when  he  attempted  to  read  his  patent  to 
Captain  Bull.  Late  in  December  he  wrote  to  Governor  Treat  that 
as  he  supposed  the  trial  of  the  quo  warranto  writs  had  gone  against 
the  colony,  he  hoped  the  officials  of  Connecticut  would  make  them- 
selves popular  with  King  James  by  immediately  surrendering  their 

50 


1l    h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

charter,  and  thus  save  any  unpleasant  experiences  in  the  future. 
The  advice  of  Andros  was  not  accepted,  but  matters  drifted  along, 
although  the  records  of  the  colony  show  that  the  leaders  spent 
many  anxious  days  considering  the  situation. 

But  when  the  General  Assembly  met  in  the  fall  of  1687,  Sir 
Edmund  Andros  was  present  accompanied  by  an  armed  force  of 
sixty  members  of  the  king's  troops.  He  had  expected  to  enforce 
the  surrender  of  the  charter  at  that  time,  it  is  said,  and  the  members 
of  the  assembly  were  in  a  state  of  extreme  perturbation.  The  story 
of  the  drama  enacted  at  Hartford  is  familiar  to  all.  The  assembly 
was  holding  its  session  in  the  meeting-house;  Sir  Edmund  had  made 
his  formal  demand  for  the  charter ;  the  members  had  exhausted  their 
well-known  powers  of  parleying  for  its  continuance  in  their  hands , 
and  the  royal  governor  was  well  nigh  desperate.  For  years  he  had 
hoped  to  get  possession  of  that  instrument  and  now  that  he  was 
clothed  with  the  royal  power  to  ask  for  its  surrender  he  did  not 
propose  to  concede  to  the  requests  of  Connecticut  men. 

Professor  Johnston  tells  the  story :  "  Toward  evening  the  case 
had  become  desperate.  The  little  democracy  was  at  last  driven 
into  a  corner,  where  its  old  policy  seemed  no  longer  available ;  it 
must  resist  openly,  or  make  a  formal  surrender  of  its  charter.  Just 
as  the  lights  were  lighted,  the  legal  authorities  yielded  so  far  as  to 
order  the  precious  document  to  be  brought  in  and  laid  on  the  table 
before    the    eyes  of   Andros.     Then  came  a  little  more  debate. 

51 


'T'  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

Suddenly  the  lights  were  blown  out,  Captain  Wadsworth  of  Hart- 
ford carried  off  the  charter,  and  hid  it  in  a  hollow  oak  tree  on  the 
estate  of  the  Wyllyses,  just  across  the  "riverett;"  and  when  the 
lights  were  relighted,  the  colony  was  no  longer  able  to  comply  with 
Andros'  demand  for  a  surrender." 

Some  historians  have  attempted  to  disprove  this  story  and 
Professor  Johnston  says  that  it  is  traditional,  but  he  adds  that  it  is 
"  difficult  to  see  any  good  grounds  for  impeaching  it  on  that 
account." 

The  Connecticut  officials  had  done  all  they  could  do  to  pre- 
serve the  Connecticut  government  under  their  charter,  but  they  had 
to  bow  to  an  overpowering  force,  with  the  king  back  of  it  all. 
Governor  Treat  listened  to  the  reading  of  the  royal  commission 
held  by  Andros  and  the  royal  governor  ruled  over  Connecticut  from 
October  31,  1687,  until  April,  1689.  While  Connecticut  did  not 
suffer  greatly  from  Andros  and  his  claims  of  royal  authority,  his 
administration  certainly  provoked  the  ill  favor  of  the  people. 

On  April  18,  1689,  Andros  was  finally  deposed  and  with  fifty 
of  his  followers  was  arrested  at  Boston  and  thrown  into  prison. 
William  and  Mary  were  proclaimed,  and  Governor  Treat  and  the 
other  state  officials  resumed  their  places. 

In  1690  Andros  was  sent  to  England  to  answer  to  charges 
preferred  against  him  by  a  committee  of  colonists;  but  the  home 
authorities  did  not  press  them,  and  the  man  who  had  harassed  New 

52 


^  h  e        Governors        of        C  o  n   n.   e  c  t  i  c   u   t 

England,  escaped  without  a  trial.  He  returned  to  America  as 
governor  of  Virginia  in  1692,  remaining  there  until  1698.  His 
best  work  as  a  colonial  governor  was  accomplished  in  that  colony. 
His  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture  and  the  development 
of  trade  and  the  part  he  took  in  establishing  the  college  of  William 
and  Mary,  the  second  oldest  college  in  the  United  States,  won  for 
him  high  praise  from  the  people  whom  he  ruled. 

He,  however,  became  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  the  com- 
missary of  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Blair,  and  this  led  to  his 
recall.  Sir  Edmund  closed  his  stormy  public  career  by  being 
governor  of  the  Island  of  Jersey  from  1704  to  1706.  The  last 
€ight  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  London,  where  he  died  on 
February  24,  1714. 


The 
NINTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
FITZ-JOHN    WINTHROP 

A  New  Englander  by  birth  and  the 
first  American-born  to  be  chosen  a 
political  leader  by  the  colonists  in 
recognition  of  his  bravery  as  a  soldier, 
his  unimpeachable  integrity,  and  his 
lofty  patriotism  and  fidelity  to  principle 


F     I     T     Z    -    J     O     H     N 


W     I     N     T     H     R     O     P 


JOHN  Winthrop,  commonly  known  in  history  as   Fitz-John, 
and  son  of  Governor  John  Winthrop,  was  born  at  Ipswich, 

Massachusetts;  record  of  baptisms,  Boston,  1638,  Fitz-John, 
son  of  John  and  Ehzabeth  Winthrop,  born  March  14,  1637-8.  He 
entered  Harvard  College,  but  did  not  take  a  degree  as  he  left  to 
accept  a  commission  in  the  parliamentary  army. 

Winthrop  saw  much  service  in  Scotland,  where  he  commanded 
at  Cardross,  and  afterward  accompanied  General  George  Monk  on 
his  famous  march  to  London.  When  his  regiment  was  disbanded 
on  account  of  the  Restoration,  Winthrop  returned  to  New  England 
in  1663,  settled  in  Connecticut  and  there  passed  the  remaining  por- 
tion of  his  career.  During  that  trying  period,  when  the  discourag- 
ing Indian  wars  were  in  progress,  Winthrop  rendered  considerable 
service  to  the  colony  in  the  field.  When  Connecticut  joined  with 
the  other  New  England  colonies  in  sending  an  army  up  the 
Hudson  river  to  co-operate  with  Governor  Philip's  sea  expedition, 
Fitz-John  Winthrop  was  named  as  commander  of  the  whole  force, 
with  Milborn  as  commissary.  The  army  suffered  greatly  from  the 
latter's  inability  to  perform  his  duty,  and  both  the  matters  of 
furnishing  food  and  providing  transportation  for   the  forces  were 

57 


T  b   c        Governors       of       Connecticut 

hopelessly  muddled.  In  the  face  of  these  gross  irregularities,  and 
also  on  account  of  the  weak  support  of  New  York,  Winthrop  had 
no  alternative  but  to  retreat  and  the  expedition  proved  an  utter 
failure. 

Jacob  Leisler,  the  self-appointed  governor  of  New  York, 
branded  Winthrop  as  an  incompetent,  and  heaped  considerable 
abuse  upon  him  for  the  failure  of  the  expedition,  although  histor- 
ians generally  agree  that  the  blame  rested  largely  upon  Milborn,  a 
son-in-law  of  the  governor. 

When  he  returned  to  Connecticut,  Winthrop  received  the 
thanks  of  the  General  Court  for  his  services.  In  1693  he  was  made 
an  agent  of  the  colony  and  sent  to  England  to  obtain  if  possible  a 
conlirmation  of  the  charter,  as  there  was  a  belief  that  it  had  been 
superseded.  Winthrop  remained  in  England  for  four  years  an 
agent  of  Connecticut  colony  to  the  court  of  William  III.,  and 
succeeded  in  obtaining  from  Lord  John  Somers,  attorney  general,  a 
strong  opinion  that  the  charter  of  1662  was  valid.  The  opinion 
of  the  attorney  general  was  concurred  in  by  such  able  lawyers  as 
Treby  and  Ward,  and  Lord  Somers  declared :  "  I  am  of  the  same 
opinion,  and  as  this  matter  is  stated,  there  is  no  ground  of  doubt." 
King  William  ratified  this  opinion  in  April,  1694,  and  when 
Winthrop  returned  to  Connecticut  he  received  the  thanks  of  the 
people  for  having  rendered  such  valuable  service  to  the  charter 
obtained  by  his  father  a  generation  before.     In  1698  Winthrop  was 

58 


'^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 


chosen  governor  of  the  colony  and  continued  in  the  office  until  his 
death  in  1707. 

In  the  fall  of  1707  Governor  Winthrop  journeyed  to  Boston 
in  an  enfeebled  condition  to  obtain  medical  assistance  and  visit  his 
brother,  Wait  Still  Winthrop.  The  Boston  News  Letter  of  Novem- 
ber 27,  1707,  announced  his  death  in  this  manner:  "About  four 
o'clock  this  morning,  the  Honorable  John  Winthrop,  Esq.,  Gov- 
ernor of  His  Majesty's  Colony  of  Connecticut,  departed  this  life  in 
the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age ;  being  born  at  Ipswich,  in  New 
England,  March  14,  Anno,  1638;  whose  body  is  to  be  interred 
here  on  Thursday  next,  the  4th  of  December."  His  body  was 
interred  in  the  same  tomb  with  his  father  and  grandfather  in  the 
burying-ground  at  King's  Chapel. 

Governor  Winthrop  lived  in  New  London,  and  his  home  was 
long  famous  for  its  unbounded  hospitality.  Miss  Caulkins  says  of 
him :  "  His  death  was  an  important  event  to  the  town.  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  commonwealth  it  had  lost  its  head,  and  as  a  community 
it  was  bereaved  of  a  true  friend  and  influential  citizen." 

While  Fitz-John  Winthrop  lacked  the  qualities  of  a  states- 
man like  his  grandfather,  or  a  scholar  like  his  father,  yet  he  is 
known  in  history  as  a  brave  soldier  and  an  administrator  of  public 
affairs  who  won  the  absolute  trust  of  his  constituents.  His  integ- 
rity and  lofty  patriotism  were  unimpeachable. 


59 


'The 
TENTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
GURDON  SALTONSTALL 

A  New  England  theologian  whose 
transition  from  the  pulpit  to 
the  executive  chair  caused  some 
amazement  in  his  congregation 
but  did  much  toward  inspiring 
a  love  for  education  in  the 
colony  and  bringing  spirituality 
to    the     ''temporal    office" 


G     U     R     D     O     N 


SALTONSTA.   LL 


THE  name  of  Saltonstall  carries  with  it  a  long  line  of  men 
distinguished  in  theology,  at  the  bar,  in  the  army  and  navy, 
and  as  statesmen.  Richard  Saltonstall,  the  first  of  note  to 
bear  the  name,  was  a  nephew  of  a  lord  mayor  of  London,  and  a 
patentee  of  Connecticut.  He  returned  to  England  and  was  one  of 
the  judges  that  sentenced  Lords  Holland,  Norwich,  and  Capel,  the 
Duke  of  Hamilton,  and  Sir  John  Owen  to  death  for  treason.  His 
great-grandson,  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Mass- 
achusetts, March  27,  1666.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard 
College  in  1684,  studied  theology  and  was  ordained  the  19th  of 
November,  1691,  as  the  minister  at  New  London. 

His  career  as  a  preacher  was  not  only  eminently  satisfactory, 
but  he  was  regarded  as  a  scholar  of  finished  qualities.  It  is  said  that 
his  thorough  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs,  his  polished  ihajestic 
bearing  and  his  strong  loyalty  to  the  colonies  made  him  one  of  the 
most  valuable  men  in  Connecticut.  He  was  one  of  the  originators 
of  the  plan  to  establish  a  college  in  Connecticut,  and  it  is  recorded 
by  writers  on  the  subject  that  he  did  much  to  have  the  institution 
situated  in  New  Haven  instead  of  Hartford.  He  is  credited  with 
having  made  the  plans  and  estimates  for  the  buildings. 

63 


T'  b  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Among  the  clergymen  of  the  colony  he  enjoyed  great  popu- 
larity. 

In  1698  Saltonstall  was  a  member  of  a  committee  appointed 
to  welcome  the  Earl  of  Bellomont  when  he  visited  this  country. 

Governor  Fitz-John  Winthrop  and  Saltonstall  were  close 
friends;  in  fact,  during  a  long  illness  through  which  the  governor 
passed,  the  minister  acted  as  his  chief  adviser.  Through  this  agency 
Saltonstall  became  intimately  acquainted  with  the  routine  business 
of  the  colony,  so  that  he  was  as  familiar  with  the  questions  of  state 
as  the  governor  himself  When,  therefore.  Governor  Winthrop  died 
in  1707  a  special  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  called  a  month 
later,  elected  the  Reverend  Saltonstall  as  his  successor.  He  began 
the  duties  of  the  office  January  1,  1708,  and  in  the  May  following 
was  regularly  elected  by  the  people.  Then  began  his  long  career 
as  governor,  which  was  terminated  only  by  his  death. 

His  sudden  transition  from  the  preacher's  desk  to  the  governor's 
chair  was  too  sudden  for  the  parishioners  at  New  London.  They 
were  filled  with  grief  and  amazement,  we  are  told,  and  Trumbull 
adds  that  the  Assembly  sent  a  letter  to  his  people  explaining  that 
"  their  minister  was  called  to  engage  in  another  important  course  of 
service  and  using  arguments  to  induce  them  to  acquiesce  in  the 
result."  He  was  criticised  and  even  censured  for  having  given  up 
the  work  of  the  ministry  for  a  "temporal  office,"  and  the  Rev. 
Isaac  Backus,  a  Baptist  preacher  and  author  of  repute,  wrote :  "  He 

64 


'T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

readily  quitted  the  solemn  charge  of  souls  for  worldly  promotion." 
The  governor  always  retained  his  interest  in  the  church  at  New 
London. 

One  of  his  first  acts  as  governor  was  to  suggest  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  synod  of  ministers  and  laymen  for  a  more  thorough 
system  of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  The  outcome  of  this  was  the 
assemblage  of  Congregational  clergymen  at  Saybrook,  which 
framed  the  famous  "  Saybrook  Platform." 

In  1709  he  was  an  agent  of  the  colony  to  convey  an  address 
to  Queen  Anne,  urging  the  conquest  of  Canada. 

In  1711,  when  Connecticut  placed  four  hundred  men  in  the 
field  against  Quebec,  Governor  Saltonstall  personally  conducted 
them  as  far  north  as  Albany.  The  disaster  which  befell  stupid  Sir 
Hovenden  Walker,  commander  of  the  expedition,  in  Canadian 
waters,  is  well  known. 

Governor  Saltonstall  practically  introduced  the  printing  press 
in  Connecticut,  as  he  put  one  into  his  house  as  early  as  1709. 

He  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy  on  September  20,  1724,  at  his 
home  in  New  London,  and  was  buried  two  days  later  with  high 
military  and  civic  honors.  "The  horse  and  foot 'marched  in  four 
files;  the  drums,  colors,  trumpets,  halberts,  and  hilts  of  swords  cov- 
ered with  black,  and  twenty  cannon  firing  at  half  a  minute's  dis- 
tance." Rev.  Eliphalet  Adams,  in  his  funeral  sermon,  referring 
to  his  work  for  the  college  said:     "  Under  his  wing  and  care  our 

65 


T'  h  e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

little  nursery  of  learning  hath  sprung  up  to  that  consistence,  obser- 
vation and  strength  that  it  is  this  day;  and  now  it  heartily  bemoans 
the  loss  of  its  best  friend  under  God. 

"  After  the  remains  of  the  governor  had  been  deposited  in  the 
tomb,  two  volleys  belched  from  the  fort,  and  then  the  military  com- 
panies marching  in  single  file,  as  each  respectively  came  against  the 
tomb,  discharged,  and  so  drew  up  orderly  into  a  body  as  before 
and  dismissed." 

Governor  Saltonstall  was  a  great  man  and  an  able  executive.  Pro- 
fessor Dexter  has  truly  said :  "  Yale  College,  in  common  with  the 
whole  colony,  and  indeed  with  all  New  England,  suffered  a  great 
loss  in  his  sudden  death." 


66 


"The 
ELEVENTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
JOSEPH     TALCOTT 

A  son  of  Connecticut  by  birth  and 
the  first  scion  of  the  common- 
wealth to  enter  its  politics  in  youth 
and  through  years  of  faithful  service 
to  receive  steady  promotion  until 
he    became    governor    of    the    colony 


JOSEPH 


T     A     L     C     O     T     T 


JOSEPH  TALCOTT  was  the  first  person  to  occupy  the 
office  of  governor  who  was  born  in  Connecticut. 

John  Talcott,  his  grandfather,  was  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee that  sat  for  the  first  time  with  the  Court  of  Magistrates  in 
1637,  and  he  was  deputy  every  year  following  until  1659,  He 
was  also  an  assistant  and  treasurer  of  the  colony.  His  son,  the 
governor's  father,  was  treasurer  of  the  colony  and  resigned  in  order 
to  take  command  of  the  troops  raised  by  Connecticut  to  participate 
in  King  Philip's  War.  He  was  one  of  the  patentees  named  in  the 
charter,  and  died  full  of  honors  July  23,  1688. 

Joseph  Talcott  was  born  in  Hartford,  November  11,  or  16, 
1669,  and  was  the  fourth  son  of  Colonel  John  Talcott  and  Helena 
Wakeman.  His  first  appearance  in  public  was  when  he  petitioned 
the  General  Assembly  in  1691  against  the  division  of  his  father's 
property  in  Hartford.  He  claimed  possession  of  all  the  real  estate 
by  right  of  primogeniture.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  years,  in  1692, 
Talcott  was  chosen  selectman  of  Hartford,  and  in  1697  he  was 
re-elected.     From  that  time  he  held  many  offices  in  the  colony. 

When  the  alarm  of  the  Indian  war  flashed  through  Hartford  and 
the  colony  in  1704,  Lieutenant  Joseph  Talcott  was  appointed  on  a 

69 


'T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

committee  "to  proportion  and  lay  out  to  each  person  how  much 
they  shall  make  of  the  fortifications  agreed  on  to  be  done  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river." 

He  was  also  for  twenty  years  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
managed  the  affairs  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  in  Hartford. 
In  October,  1697,  Talcott  was  appointed  ensign  of  the  Train  Band 
in  Hartford,  "on  the  north  side  of  the  riverette,"  and  also  held 
various  military  offices  until  he  was  elected  governor.  In  fact,  he 
spent  so  much  time  in  looking  after  military  affairs  of  the  colony 
that  the  General  Assembly  in  1724  voted  him  the  sum  of  fifteen 
pounds  "  to  be  paid  to  his  Honor  out  of  the  public  treasury  for  his 
good  services  in  that  affair."  First  chosen  as  a  deputy  from  Hart- 
ford in  1708,  he  was  then  elected  speaker  of  the  lower  house  in 
the  May  session  of  1710,  and  was  made  an  assistant  May,  1711. 
This  latter  office  he  held  until  elected  deputy  governor  in  October, 
1723.  In  1725  he  was  chosen  governor  and  held  the  office  during 
the  next  seventeen  years,  until  1742. 

Governor  Talcott's  service  to  the  courts  of  the  colony  was 
extensive  and  able.  In  May,  1721,  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  was  also  chief  judge  of  the  County  Court  and 
judge  of  the  Probate  Court  for  Hartford  county  for  a  long  course 
of  years. 

During  the  long  administration  of  Governor  Talcott  the  chief 
thing  which  attracts  attention  in  the  history  of  the  colony  was  its 

70 


l!  h   €       Governors       of       Connecticut 

constant  growth  by  the  establishment  of  new  towns.  The  town  of 
WiUington,  destined  to  become  the  birthplace  of  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  early  American  writers,  started  with  twenty-seven 
inhabitants.  The  settlement  of  Somers,  Cornwall,  Salisbury, 
Canaan,  Kent,  Goshen,  Torrington,  Winchester,  New  Hartford, 
Hartland,  Colebrook,  Union,  Barkhamsted,  East  Haddam,  and  New 
Fairfield,  followed  in  rapid  succession,  and  demonstrated  the 
thriving  condition  of  the  community  they  enlarged.  Governor 
Talcott  died  October  1 1,  1741,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  cemetery 
in  the  rear  of  the  Center  Church  at  Hartford. 

In  commenting  on  Governor  Talcott's  career  a  writer  has  said : 
"  In  summing  up  Governor  Talcott's  character  we  may  say  that 
while  not  in  any  way  a  brilliant  man  he  displayed  sterling  good 
sense,  great  faithfulness  in  performing  the  duties  of  his  station, 
excellent  judgment  in  managing  the  affairs  entrusted  to  him,  and  a 
disinclination  to  follow  extreme  measures  in  any  direction." 

He  left  a  large  family,  and  many  distinguished  descendants 
have  not  allowed  the  luster  of  the  name  to  grow  dim. 


71 


The 
TWELFTH      GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

zvas 

JONATHAN       LAW 

A  Harvard  graduate  who  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Connecticut  judiciary,  and 
by  force  of  his  own  exertions  attained 
the  highest  political  honor  in  the  colony, 
the  expedition  against  Louisburg,  for 
which  Connecticut  furnished  a  thousand 
men,  occurring  during  his  administration 


JONATHAN 


LAW 


JONATHAN  LAW,  twelfth  governor  of  Connecticut,  was 
born    in    Milford,    August    6,    1674.      Richard    Law,    his 

grandfather,  was  king's  attorney  and  emigrated  to  this 
country  in  1635. 

Jonathan  Law  studied  at  Harvard  College  and  was  graduated 
in  the  class  of  1695.  After  studying  law  he  commenced  practice 
in  his  native  town  in  1698,  and  with  such  success  that  he  was  soon 
made  chief  judge  of  the  New  Haven  County  Court.  He  held  this 
office  five  years,  when,  in  May,  1715,  he  was  chosen  as  an  associate 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  In  this  capacity  Jonathan  Law 
demonstrated  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  law,  so  that  his  ability 
was  rewarded  two  years  later  when  he  was  chosen  as  a  governor's 
assistant.  He  held  this  office  eight  years,  until  1725,  when  he 
resigned,  having  been  elected  lieutenant  governor  of  the  colony. 
During  the  same  year  Law  was  made  chief  justice  of  the  Superior 
Court,  an  office  he  held  for  seventeen  years. 

Upon  the  death  of  Governor  Talcott,  in  1741,  Jonathan  Law 
succeeded  as  acting-governor  until  the  time  of  the  regular  election 
in  the  spring,  and  he  succeeded  himself  annually  until  his  death 
in  1751. 

75 


T!  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

After  the  election  of  Governor  Law  it  was  the  rule  in  Coiii- 
necticut  that  a  governor  hold  office  until  he  died  or  refused  to  serve 
longer,  when  the  deputy  governor  took  his  place  for  a  like  term. 

The  administration  of  Governor  Law  was  uneventful,  except 
for  the  expedition  against  Louisburg,  commanded  by  Roger  Wol- 
cott,  and  for  which  Connecticut  furnished  a  thousand  men. 
Governor  Law  was  a  strong  opponent  of  the  preaching  of  Rev. 
George  Whitefield  and  the  other  revivalists,  and  signed  an  act 
"  prohibiting  any  itinerating  clergymen  or  exhorter  from  preaching 
in  a  parish  without  the  express  desire  of  the  pastor  or  people." 
Under  the  provision  of  this  law  such  preachers  as  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Finley  were  driven  from  Connecticut  as  vagrants. 

The  governor  had  an  extensive  farm  near  Cheshire,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  plant  mulberry  trees  and  introduce  the  raising 
of  silk-worms.  This  industry  Governor  Law  advocated  and 
advertised  in  a  public  manner  by  appearing  in  1747  wearing  the 
first  coat  and  stockings  made  of  New  England  silk.  Dr.  Aspin- 
wall  of  Mansfield  and  President  Stiles  of  Yale  College  were 
both  deeply  interested  in  the  industry  and  the  latter  wore  a  gown 
m.ade  of  Connecticut  silk  at  the  next  commencement.  From 
this  humble  beginning  developed  the  extensive  silk  industry  in 
Connecticut. 

Governor  Law  died  on  November  6,  1 750,  and  at  his  funeral 
Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  pronounced  a  eulogy  in  Latin  which  is  still  in  print. 

76 


I'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 


He  referred  to  the  dead  governor  as  "  a  most  illustrious  man  and 
the  great  patron  of  Yale  College." 

A  biographer  wrote :  "He  was  unquestionably  a  man  of  high 
talents  and  accomplishments,  both  natural  and  acquired.  He  was 
well  acquainted  with  civil  and  ecclesiastical  subjects,  and  gradually 
rose  by  the  force  of  his  own  exertions  to  the  highest  honor  in  the 
state.  He  was  of  a  mild  and  placid  temper,  amiable  in  all  the 
relations  of  domestic  life,  and  seems  to  have  well  discharged  the 
duties  imposed  upon  him." 

A  son,  Richard  Law,  LL.D.  (1733-1806),  was  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1751,  and  practiced  law  in  New  London.  He  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress  in  1777-78,  and  1781-84,  and 
mayor  of  New  London  for  twenty  years.  The  leading  lawyer  of 
that  section  of  Connecticut,  Richard  Law  was  made  chief  justice 
of  tlie  Supreme  Court,  and  Washington  appointed  him  judge  of  the 
United  States  District  Court.  Richard  Law  and  Roger  Sherman 
revised  the  laws  of  Connecticut. 


77 


'The 
THIRTEENTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
ROGER     WOLCOTT 

A  Windsor  weaver  who  served  in  the  Connec- 
ticut troops  in  an  expedition  against  Canada, 
became  a  major-general,  and  by  self-educa- 
tion rose  to  the  judgeship  of  the  Supreme 
Court  bench  and  to  the  governorship,  ac- 
quiring vast  knowledge  without  even  the 
foundation  of  a  common  school  education 


ROGER 


W      O      L      C     O      T     T 


ON  the  fourth  of  January,  1679,  in  Windsor,  Connecticut, 
was  born  Roger  Wolcott,  the  progenitor  of  a  famous  fam- 
ily. In  the  section  of  Windsor  where  the  Wolcotts  lived, 
onslaughts  from  the  Indians  were  so  frequent  that  it  was  impossible 
for  the  inhabitants  to  support  either  a  minister  or  a  schoolmaster. 
It  is  said  by  one  writer  that  Roger  Wolcott  did  not  attend  a  com- 
mon school  a  day  in  his  life.  As  a  boy  he  learned  the  weaver's 
trade,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  went  into  that  business  for 
himself  He  says  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  "cloathier,"  in  1694,  and 
went  into  business  for  himself  January  2,  1699.  By  great  industry 
he  acquired  in  a  moderate  length  of  time,  what  was  considered  a 
competence. 

In  1709  he  was  chosen  as  a  representative  from  Windsor,  and 
a  justice  of  the  peace  the  following  year.  Wolcott  was  selected  as 
commissary  of  the  Connecticut  troops  in  the  expedition  against 
Canada  in  1711.  In  1714  he  became  a  member  of  the  governor's 
council,  which  position  he  held  when  chosen  judge  of  the  County 
Court  in  1721.  His  ability  as  a  judge  was  so  generally  recognized 
that  in  1732  he  was  raised  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  colony.     In  1741  Wolcott  served  as  deputy  governor   of  the 


T^  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

colony,  and  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  When  Connecti- 
cut, in  1 745,  furnished  one  thousand  men  for  the  famous  expedition 
against  Louisburg,  Wolcott  was  made  a  major  general  and  placed 
in  command  of  the  Connecticut  troops.  During  the  famous  siege, 
General  Wolcott  was  second  in  command.  Sir  William  Pepperell 
being  the  chief  officer. 

Wolcott  succeeded  Jonathan  Law  as  governor  when  the  latter 
died  in  November,  1750,  and  was  continued  in  office  for  three 
years.  His  administration,  on  the  whole,  was  satisfactory,  but  near 
the  end  of  its  last  year  an  unfortunate  affair  occurred  which  injured 
his  popularity.  A  Spanish  vessel,  while  in  distress,  put  into  New 
London  harbor  for  protection.  While  at  anchor  she  was  robbed  of 
a  portion  of  her  valuable  cargo.  Complaint  was  made  to  the 
Crown  by  the  Spanish  ambassador  at  London.  There  was  a  good 
deal  of  agitation  over  the  matter,  and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the 
Connecticut  colony  would  be  held  responsible  for  the  loss.  Gov- 
ernor Wolcott  was  blamed  and  severely  censured  on  account  of 
existing  conditions  in  that  part  of  the  colony  which  made  such  a 
robbery  possible.  Public  resentment  of  what  they  called  "  official 
negligence,"  was  widespread.  The  episode  cost  Governor  Wol- 
cott a  re-election,  and  he  "  was  dismissed  by  great  majority  of  voices." 

From  his  retirement  in  1754,  Governor  Wolcott  did  not  again 
enter  public  life,  but  lived  quietly  at  his  old  home  in  Windsor.  He 
devoted  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  religious  meditation  and  liter- 

82 


'T'  b   e       Governors       of       Con?iecticut 

ary  pursuits.  Although  he  had  no  education  whatever,  Governor 
Wolcott,  by  hard  and  extensive  reading,  fitted  himself  for  his  career 
in  life.  To  literature  he  devoted  much  time,  and  a  small  volume 
entitled,  "  Poetical  Meditations,"  was  written  by  him  and  pub- 
lished at  New  London  in  1725.  It  was  a  collection  of  six  short 
poems,  and  a  long  narrative  poem  entitled,  "  A  Brief  Account  of 
the  Agency  of  Hon.  John  Winthrop  in  the  Court  of  King  Charles 
the  Second,  Anno  Domini,  1662,  when  he  obtained  a  Charter  for 
the  Colony  of  Connecticut."  This  poem  has  been  printed  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society  collection.  A  letter  written  to 
the  Rev.  Peter  Hobart  in  1761,  entitled,  "The  New  England  Con- 
gregational Churches,  etc.,"  is  reprinted  in  Everest's  "  Poets  of 
Connecticut." 

Governor  Wolcott  died  on  May  17,  1767,  at  Windsor,  in  the 
eighty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  On  his  tomb  is  the  following  inscrip- 
tion : 

"  Earth's  highest  station  ends  in  *  Here  he  lies,' 
And  '  dust  to  dust '  concludes  her  noblest  song." 

Governor  Wolcott's  son,  Oliver,  was  afterward  governor  of  the 
state ;  and  another  one,  Erastus,  was  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court. 


83 


'The 
FOURTEENTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
THOMAS       FITCH 

A  learned  lawyer  who  was  graduated  from 
Yale  College  and  began  his  career  as  a 
preacher  at  "thirty  shillings  per  Sabbath," 
and  gained  distinction  as  a  legal  authority  by 
revising  the  laws  of  the  colony  and  gaining 
commendation  in  both  England  and  America 


THOMAS 


ITCH 


PRESIDENT  Dwight,  the  first,  said  Governor  Thomas  Fitch 
was  "probably  the  most  learned  lawyer  who  had  ever 
become  an  inhabitant  of  the  colony."  For  a  long  period  he 
held  a  foremost  position  among  Connecticut  lawyers,  and  won  a 
distinguished  place  in  the  profession.  Born  in  Norwalk,  in  1700, 
Thomas  Fitch  was  a  son  of  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  town. 
He  studied  at  Yale  College,  and  was  graduated  in  a  class  of  thirteen, 
in  1721.  Five  years  later  he  was  licensed  to  preach  as  a  supply  in 
the  Norwalk  church,  at  "thirty  shillings  per  Sabbath."  In  May  of 
the  same  year,  he  began  his  long  public  career  by  serving  as  a 
deputy  to  the  General  Assembly.  Afterward  he  was  elected  a 
justice  of  the  peace  and  served  from  1726  to  1730  in  the  Assembly, 
when  he  was  nominated  as  a  governor's  assistant.  He  had  pre- 
viously studied  law,  and  was  so  successful  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  that  in  1742  he  was  appointed  on  a  committee  to  revise 
the  laws  of  the  colony.  The  work  dragged  along  for  two  years, 
when  in  May,  1744,  Fitch  was  asked  to  revise  the  laws  himself 
without  the  aid  of  the  committee.  He  accomplished  the  gigantic 
task  in  six  years,  and  the  result  of  his  labors  was  published  at  New 

87 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 


London.     The  revision  called  forth  praise  in  both    America   and 
England. 

Serving  as  an  assistant  in  1734  and  1735,  and  from  1740  to 
1750,  Fitch  was  then  chosen  deputy  governor  by  the  Assembly,  in 
special  session,  on  account  of  the  death  of  Governor  Law,  to  take 
the  place  of  Roger  Wolcott,  who  had  been  advanced  to  the  office 
of  governor.  At  the  same  time  he  was  selected  as  chief  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court  of  the  colony.  He  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
deputy  governor  every  year  until  1754,  when  he  became  governor 
of  the  colony.  The  French  war  began  at  the  commencement  of 
Govemor  Fitch's  term  of  office,  and  the  long,  dreary  struggle  occu- 
pied much  of  his  attention.  The  clouds  of  the  revolution  were 
gathering  during  the  last  year  of  his  administration  and  his  course 
at  this  time  resulted  in  his  being  practically  forced  to  retire  from 
office. 

Governor  Fitch  reported  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  on  September 
7,  1 762,  that  the  population  of  the  colony  amounted  to  "  a  hundred 
and  forty-one  thousand  whites,  and  four  thousand  five  hundred  and 
ninety  blacks,  or  thereabouts." 

Connecticut  experienced  a  share  of  the  excitement  resulting 
from  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act.  In  March,  1764,  George 
Grenville,  Prime  Minister  of  England,  introduced  his  budget  of 
"  Declaratory  Resolves  "  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  one  year 
was  to  elapse  before  the  Stamp  Act  was  to    go   into    effect.     The 

88 


l!  h   e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

following  May,  the  Connecticut  Assembly  appointed  a  committee, 
including  Governor  Fitch,  "to  collect  and  set  in  the  most  advan- 
tageous light,  all  such  arguments  and  objections  as  might  justly  and 
reasonably  be  advanced  against  creating  and  collecting  a  revenue 
in  America,  especially  against  effecting  the  same  by  stamp  duties." 
The  outcome  of  the  work  of  the  committee  was  set  forth  in  a  pam- 
phlet, written  by  Governor  Fitch,  entitled,  "  Reasons  why  the 
British  Colonies  in  America,  should  not  be  charged  with  internal 
taxes,  by  Authority  of  the  Parliament,  humbly  offered,  for  consider- 
ation, in  behalf  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut."  This  was  for- 
warded by  order  of  the  Assembly  to  the  colony's  agent  in  London. 

Lord  Halifax  addressed  a  circular  to  Governor  Fitch  in  1764, 
asking  him  to  prepare  for  the  use  of  the  British  ministry,  a  schedule 
of  particulars  as  a  guide  for  framing  the  proposed  act.  The  gov- 
ernor took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  enter  further  remon- 
strance against  the  Stamp  Act.  The  Act  was  assented  to  by 
George  IlL,  March  22,  1765,  and  according  to  its  terms,  every 
colonial  governor  was  obliged  to  take  an  oath  before  November  1st, 
to  insure  the  Crown  of  their  loyalty  in  its  support.  The  penalty 
for  refusal  to  take  this  oath  on  the  part  of  a  governor,  was  removal 
from  office  and  a  fine  of  5,000  pounds.  Excitement  ran  high  in  the 
colony  as  the  time  approached  for  the  obnoxious  act  to  go  into  effect. 

Evidently  fearing  the  royal  mandate.  Governor  Fitch  threw 
the  inhabitants  of  Connecticut  into  an  uncontrollable  rage,  when, 

89 


^  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

on  October  29,  1 765,  he  took  the  oath  to  sustain  the  law  he  had  so 
ably  opposed.  The  wrath  against  his  course  grew  apace  as  the 
time  for  re-election  approached.  Two  months  before  the  election, 
in  March,  1 766,  the  governor  published  an  anonymous  pamphlet, 
which  is  still  preserved  in  the  library  of  Yale  University.  It  was 
entitled,  "  Some  Reasons  that  influenced  the  Governor  to  take,  and 
the  Councilors  to  administer,  the  Oath."  This  able  defense  of  his 
actions  did  not  ward  off  the  impending  blow,  and  he  was  succeeded 
by  William  Pitkin. 

After  his  defeat.  Governor  Fitch  lived  in  retirement  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  at  Norwalk,  on  July  18,  1774,  in  the  seventy- 
fourth  year  of  his  age.  In  the  sermon  delivered  at  the  funeral  of 
Governor  Fitch,  the  Rev.  Moses  Dickinson  (Y.  C,  1717),  his  pas- 
tor, spoke  of  the  dead  governor's  life-work  in  glowing  terms. 
Referring  to  his  revision  of  the  laws  of  the  colony,  he  said  the  work 
was  "justly  esteemed  by  gentlemen  in  Great  Britain,  who  are 
acquainted  with  them,  to  be  the  best  code  of  plantation  laws  that 
were  ever  published." 

The  governor's  descendants  have  been  leading  citizens  in  the 
southwestern  portion  of  Connecticut. 


90 


'The 
FIFTEENTH      GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
WILLIAM      PITKIN 

An  East  Hartford  boy  who  was  chosen 
town  collector  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
years,  and  becoming  interested  in  mili- 
tary affairs  in  the  stormy  period  preced- 
ing the  Revolution,  boldly  denounced 
the    tyranny    of     the    mother    country 


WILLIAM 


PITKIN 


WILLIAM  Pitkin,  the  governor  who  distinguished  him- 
self during  the  excitement  attending  the  passage  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  by  his  bold  uncompromising  advocacy  of  the 
cause  of  the  colonies,  was  born  April  30,  1694,  in  the  town  of  East 
Hartford.  Of  his  early  life  and  education  we  know  very  little. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Pitkin  family  that  furnished  a  number  of 
brilliant  men  to  the  commonwealth  at  different  periods.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  William  Pitkin  was  chosen  town  collector.  He 
was  afterward  a  representative  in  the  General  Assembly  from  1728 
to  1734.  During  these  years  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  military 
affairs,  becoming  a  captain  of  the  Train  Band  in  1 730  and  a  colonel 
in  1734.  In  1734  he  became  a  member  of  the  governor's  council, 
and  the  year  following  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  County  Court. 
He  occupied  this  position  until  1 752.  Governor  Pitkin  was  also  a 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  served  as  chief  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  for  twelve  years. 

In  all  matters  that  pertained  to  the  future  welfare  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  in  the  days  when  the  colony  was  rearing  the  structure  of 
its  future  freedom.  Governor  Pitkin  was  an  important  figure. 

93 


1'  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

He  was  a  member  of  the  famous  Albany  convention  of  1754, 
when  Frankhn  offered  a  plan  for  the  union  of  the  colonies.  Gov- 
ernor Pitkin  also  served  on  the  committee,  of  which  Franklin  was 
chairman,  appointed  by  the  convention  to  draft  a  constitution. 
Always  a  strong  exponent  of  colonial  rights,  Pitkin  was  one  of  the 
first  in  Connecticut  to  resist  the  Stamp  Act,  when  the  British 
ministry  undertook  to  foist  that  measure  on  the  colonies.  He  was 
thoroughly  uncompromising  in  his  denunciation  of  the  act,  and 
when  on  October  29,  1765,  Governor  Fitch  took  the  oath  to 
uphold  it,  William  Pitkin,  then  lieutenant  governor,  showed  his 
courage  in  a  forcible  manner.  Pitkin,  together  with  several 
other  prominent  men,  including  Jonathan  Trumbull,  were  in  the 
room  where  Governor  Fitch  and  members  of  the  council  were  to 
take  the  oath  to  support  the  Act.  Pitkin  indignantly  rebelled 
against  the  action  of  the  governor,  and  in  company  with  the  sturdy 
Trumbull,  deliberately  left  the  room  while  the  oath  was  being 
administered.  This  patriotic  act  was  thoroughly  commended  by 
the  majority  of  the  people  of  Connecticut,  and  they  manifested  their 
approbation  in  a  substantial  way  when,  in  the  following  May,  1766, 
he  was  elected  governor  of  the  colony  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

A  newspaper  of  that  day  rather  facetiously  remarked,  in  com- 
menting on  the  election,  that  Pitkin's  majority  over  Fitch — who 
had  fallen  into  popular  disfavor — "  was  so  great  that  the  votes  were 
not  counted."     Governor  Pitkin's  course  through  the  stormy  period 

94 


^  h  e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

preceding  the  Revolution  was  uniformly  consistent  and  courageously 
patriotic,  which  called  forth  the  plaudits  of  his  constituents.  He 
died  while  in  office,  in  October,  1769. 

His  biographer  tells  us  that  the  governor  was  "  of  commanding 
appearance,  highly  affable  and  pleasing  in  manner."  The  follow- 
ing inscription  is  on  his  monument :  "  Here  lieth  interred  the  body 
of  William  Pitkin,  Esq. — late  Governor  of  the  Colony  of  Connecti- 
cut. To  the  God  of  Nature  indebted  for  all  his  talents,  he  aimed 
to  employ  them  in  Religion,  without  affectation,  chearful.  Humble, 
and  Temperate,  zealous  and  bold  for  the  Truth,  Faithful  in  distrib- 
uting Justice,  Scattering  away  Evil  with  his  Eye,  an  Example  of 
Christian  Virtue,  a  Patron  of  his  Country,  a  Benefactor  to  the  Poor, 
a  Tender  Parent,  and  Faithful  Friend.  Twelve  years  he  presided 
in  the  Superior  Court,  and  three  and  a  half  Governor  in  chief. 
After  serving  his  generation  by  the  will  of  God,  with  calmness  and 
serenity,  fell  on  sleep,  the  1st  day  of  October,  A.  D.,  1769 — in  the 
76th  year  of  his  age." 


95 


'The 
SIXTEENTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

JONATHAN     TRUMBULL 

The  son  of  a  country  storekeeper  in  Lebanon 
who  studied  theology,  and  then  while  a 
clerk  in  his  father's  store  acquired  law 
and  was  elected  to  the  legislature  twenty- 
three  times,  and  became  the  distinguished 
war  governor  of  Connecticut  and  friend 
and    adviser    of    General    Washington 


f: 


JONATHAN 


TRUMBULL 


JONATHAN  Trumbull,  the  first  war  governor  of  Con- 
necticut, is  pre-eminently  known  in  history  as  the  brave 
patriot  who  presided  over  the  destinies  of  his  native  state 
during  its  most  critical  period.  His  other  brilliant  qualities  fade 
away  before  that  magnificent  patriotism  which  made  Connecticut 
worship  her  noble  son. 

He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Lebanon  on  October  12,  1710, 
and  was  the  son  of  Joseph  Trumbull,  a  well-to-do  merchant  and 
farmer  who  had  moved  to  the  little  town  ten  years  previous.  At 
thirteen  years  of  age  Trumbull  entered  Harvard  College  and  was 
graduated  in  the  class  of  1727.  Early  in  life  his  family  and  friends 
discovered  the  young  man's  fine  talents,  and  a  professional  life  was 
planned  for  him.  He  studied  theology,  which  was  thoroughly 
agreeable  to  his  tastes,  and  in  a  few  years  was  licensed  to  preach. 
His  career  in  the  ministry  was  brief,  but  it  is  pointed  out  by  good 
authorities  that  if  he  had  continued  in  the  profession  Jonathan 
Trumbull  would  have  become,  without  doubt,  a  conspicuous  figure 
in  the  church. 

His  plans  in  life  were  changed  abruptly  in  1731  when  an 
older   brother   left   his   father's  store    in    Lebanon   and   Trumbull 

99 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

resigned  from  the  ministry  to  carry  on  the  business.  While  attend- 
ing to  his  duties  in  the  store  Trumbull  studied  law,  and  two  years 
later,  in  1733,  was  elected  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly, 
which  marked  the  opening  of  his  long  public  career.  In  this  body 
he  became  such  a  leading  spirit  that  in  1739  he  was  elected  speaker 
and  occupied  the  office  with  such  success  that  during  the  following 
year  he  was  chosen  as  assistant.  Trumbull  was  re-elected  to  this 
position  twenty-two  times,  and  was  looked  upon  as  one  of  the 
soundest  men  in  the  colony.  He  afterward  became  judge  of  the 
County  Court,  and  assistant  judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  chief 
judge  of  the  latter  body  from  1766  to  1769.  In  the  year  1767 
Trumbull  was  elected  deputy  governor  and  held  the  office  for  a  year, 
when  he  succeeded  William  Pitkin  as  governor,  upon  the  latter's 
death  in  1769. 

His  utter  abhorrence  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  abundantly  demon- 
strated in  1 765  when  he  absolutely  refused  to  take  the  oath  required 
of  every  official  to  support  the  obnoxious  act.  Bancroft  remarks 
concerning  this  period  that  Trumbull  "was  the  model  of  the 
virtues  of  a  rural  magistrate ;  profoundly  religious,  grave  in  man- 
ner, discriminating  in  judgment,  fixed  in  his  principles."  Professor 
Johnston  says  that  for  several  years  Trumbull  had  been  at  the  head 
of  the  popular  volunteer  organization  known  as  the  "Sons  of 
Liberty,"  which  patrolled  the  country,  "overawed  those  who  were 
inclined  to  support  the  British  government,  and  making  ready  to 

100 


'T'  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

resist  the  execution  of  the  law."  When  Jared  Ingersoll  rode  from 
Hartford  to  New  Haven  to  put  the  Stamp  Act  into  operation  he 
found  fully  a  thousand  of  these  "Sons  of  Liberty  "  ready  to  resist  to 
the  last  degree. 

When  Trumbull  became  governor  the  people  of  Connecticut 
were  convinced  that  in  him  the  colony  had  found  the  man  the 
people  needed  at  that  time.  Before  Trumbull  doubt  and  hesitation 
fled  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  He  threw  his  whole  soul  into  the 
impending  struggle,  and  while  the  war  clouds  were  not  as  black  in 
Connecticut  as  in  the  neighboring  colony  of  Massachusetts  where 
Trumbull's  classmate,  Hutchinson,  was  governor,  yet  the  crisis 
called  for  a  man  in  whom  craven  frailty  was  an  unknown  quantity. 

Trumbull,  with  many  other  worthy  men,  was  committed  to 
the  idea  that  extreme  measures  in  dealing  with  existing  difficulties 
were  unnecessary  ;  that  it  was  neither  wise  nor  expedient  to  sepa- 
rate from  Great  Britain,  and  he  personally  thought  the  troubles 
between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country  ought  to  be  settled 
"  by  gentle  and  insensible  methods  rather  than  by  power  and  force." 

His  private  opinions  were  quickly  set  aside,  however,  when 
the  declaration  of  war  came ;  and  from  that  time  Trumbull  was 
laboring  day  and  night  for  the  cause  for  which  the  colonies  were 
making  such  a  sacrifice. 

A  correspondence  soon  ensued  between  Governor  Trum- 
bull  and    General    George    Washington.     It   gradually    assumed 

lOI 


^  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

a  close    personal   cast,    which   was    continued   after   the    Revolu- 
tion. 

In  August,  1776,  when  Washington  wrote  Governor  Trum- 
bull concerning  the  weakness  of  the  Continental  army,  the  latter 
immediately  called  together  the  council  of  safety  and  supplemented 
the  five  Connecticut  regiments  already  in  the  field  by  nine  more, 
which  proved  to  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  cause. 

The  governor's  pertinent  injunctions  to  those  who  had  not  left 
the  fields  for  the  war  have  come  down  to  us  ringing  with  his 
magnificent  patriotism.  He  said:  "Join  yourself  to  one  of  the 
companies  now  ordered  to  New  York,  or  form  yourselves  into  distinct 
companies  and  choose  captains  forthwith,  March  on ;  this  shall  be 
your  warrant :  May  the  God  of  the  Armies  of  Israel  be  your 
leader,"  It  is  no  wonder  such  words  as  these  inspired  many  a 
Connecticut  farmer  to  leave  the  harvest  fields  unfinished,  and  begin 
the  weary  tramp  to  New  York  where  they  arrived  in  the  nick  of 
time.  Washington  wrote  to  Trumbull  that  he  had  "  full  confidence 
in  his  most  ready  assistance  on  every  occasion,  and  that  such 
measures  as  appear  to  you  most  likely  to  advance  the  public  good, 
in  this  and  every  instance,  will  be  most  cheerfully  adopted." 

Trumbull's  advice  to  the  great  commander-in-chief,  and  the 
latter's  implicit  confidence  in  the  governor's  uncommonly  sound 
judgment,  has  been  treated  at  length  by  historians.  When  Wash- 
ington implored  the  governors  of  the  New  England  States  in  1781 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

to  raise  more  men,  Trumbull  sent  back  word  that  he  should  have 
all  he  needed.  Jared  Sparks,  the  biographer  of  Trumbull,  wrote 
that  Washington  relied  on  Connecticut's  governor  as  one  of  his 
main  pillars  of  support,  and  often  consulted  him  in  emergencies. 
The  epithet  "  Brother  Jonathan,"  applied  to  Governor  Trumbull, 
originated  with  Washington,  who  according  to  a  learned  writer, 
when  perplexed  or  in  any  emergency  used  to  exclaim,  "  Let  us  hear 
what  Brother  Jonathan  says." 

Governor  Trumbull  was  elected  every  year  for  fifteen  con- 
secutive years,  and  his  term  of  office  covered  the  whole  Rev- 
olutionary period.  When  the  war  with  Great  Britain  had  reached 
an  end  Governor  Trumbull,  who  had  been  in  continuous  public 
service  for  fifty-one  years,  asked  the  General  Assembly  to  allow  him 
to  retire.  His  speech  before  that  body  in  October,  1783,  was  a 
memorable  one,  and  referring  to  his  proposed  retirement  he  said : 
"  I  have  to  request  the  favor  of  you,  gentlemen,  and  through  you 
of  all  freemen  of  the  state,  that  after  May  next  I  may  be  excused 
from  any  further  service  in  public  life,  and  from  this  time  I  may  no 
longer  be  considered  as  an  object  for  your  suffrages  for  any  public 
employment.  The  reasonableness  of  this  request,  I  am  persuaded, 
will  be  questioned  by  no  one.  The  length  of  time  I  have  devoted 
to  their  service,  with  my  declining  state  of  vigor  and  activity,  will, 
I  please  myself,  form  for  me  a  sufficient  and  unfailing  excuse  with 
my  fellow  citizens." 

103 


^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

At  the  next  election  Governor  Trumbull  was  retired,  and  he 
never  again  entered  public  life.  His  services  were  recognized  by 
both  Yale  College  and  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  both  of  which 
conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 
Governor  Trumbull  died  at  his  home  in  Lebanon  on  August  17, 
1 785,  in  the  seventy-fiftli  year  of  his  age. 

During  his  life  the  governor  made  a  large  and  valuable  collec- 
tion of  historical  papers  and  manuscripts  which  was  presented  to  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society  after  his  death.  He  had  four  sons, 
Joseph,  Jonathan,  David  and  John.  Joseph,  born  in  1737,  was  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  commissary  general  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  He  died  at  Lebanon  in  1778.  Another  son. 
Jonathan,  born  in  1740,  was  a  distinguished  soldier  and  aide-de- 
camp to  Washington.  He  was  afterward  governor  of  Connecticut, 
The  family  has  been  one  of  the  most  distinguished  in  the  history  of 
this  state.  John  Trumbull,  another  son,  was  the  renowned  painter 
whose  "Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,"  and  "Death  of  Montgomery" 
brought  him  unceasing  fame.  His  nephew,  Joseph,  was  a  congress- 
man and  afterward  governor  of  Connecticut.  The  family  also  in- 
cludes John  Trumbull,  the  poet  and  author  of  "McFingal;"  Rev. 
Benjamin  Trumbull,  author  of  the  "  History  of  Connecticut;  "  James 
Hammond  Trumbull,  the  philologist ;  Henry  Clay  Trumbull,  the 
leader  in  Sunday  school  work;  ex-Senator  Lyman  Trumbull  of 
Illinois,  and  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  prominent  librarian  of  Norwich. 

104 


i:he 

SEVENTEENTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

MATTHEW    GRISWOLD 

A  boy  from  the  village  of  Lyme  who  with- 
out instructor  or  teacher  developed  his 
natural  abilities  and  became  one  of  the 
most  prominent  lawyers  in  Connecticut;  be- 
ing elected  its  chief  executive;  elected  presi- 
dent of  a  convention  which  ratified  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and 
honored   by    a    degree    from    Yale    College 


MATTHEW 


G     R     I     S     W     O     L     D 


ATTHEW  Griswold  was  bom  in  the  town  of  Lyme 
on  March  25,  1714.  His  ancestors  were  members  of  an 
old  and  reputable  family  who  had  lived  irj  that  part  of 
Connecticut  for  many  years.  Griswold's  education  was  about  as 
meager  as  it  was  possible  to  make  it,  and  the  statement  is  made  on 
good  authority  that  the  governor  never  received  any  public  instruc- 
tion whatever.  The  natural  abilities  of  the  young  man  attracted 
attention,  and  his  remarkably  mature  judgment  at  a  tender  age  was 
the  wonder  of  those  who  knew  him.  When  he  had  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years  he  began  the  study  of  law.  He  never  had 
an  instructor  or  teacher,  but  by  very  close  and  persistent  application 
to  the  studies,  he  soon  acquired  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  law 
to  gain  prompt  admission  to  the  bar.  Entering  upon  the  practice- 
of  his  profession,  he  became  an  indefatigable  worker,  and  soon  rose 
to  the  prominence  of  an  advocate,  which  he  always  enjoyed  after- 
ward. Griswold  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  of  Con- 
necticut for  many  years,  and  his  reputation  as  an  able,  faithful,  and 
conscientious  advocate  was  possibly  never  excelled  by  a  man  who 
educated  himself 

107 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

His  first  public  ofRce  was  that  of  king's  attorney,  which  he 
held  for  some  years,  but  his  public  career  really  commenced  in 
1751  when  he  was  elected  as  a  representative  from  Lyme  to  the 
General  Assembly.  He  was  returned  every  year  until  1759,  when 
he  became  a  member  of  the  council.  In  1776  Griswold  was  chosen 
a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  a  position  for  which  he  was 
especially  adapted  as  was  demonstrated  by  his  subsequent  career 
on  the  bench.  Three  years  later,  in  1 769,  he  was  elected  lieutenant 
governor  of  the  colony  and  chief  justice  of  the  state. 

Occupying  the  office  of  lieutenant  governor  for  fifteen  years, 
covering  the  entire  period  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  being  in 
close  touch  with  Governor  Trumbull,  it  is  doubtful  if  a  better  suc- 
cessor to  the  famous  "  war  governor  "  could  have  been  found.  He 
succeeded  Trumbull  as  governor  in  1784  and  held  the  office  for 
two  years.  In  1786,  when  he  ceased  to  be  governor,  Griswold 
practically  retired  from  public  life.  He  only  appeared  in  a  public 
capacity  once  thereafter,  and  this  was  in  1788,  when  he  acted  as 
president  of  the  convention  which  met  at  Hartford  in  January  of 
that  year  for  the  purpose  of  ratifying  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Yale  conferred  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  on  Governor  Griswold 
in  1779,  and  his  distinguished  ability  was  abundantly  recognized 
in  various  ways.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Lyme  on  April  28, 
1799,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  One  son,  the  Hon. 
Roger  Griswold,  was  governor  of  Connecticut. 

108 


T  b   e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

An  authority   in   commenting  on  the   life   and  character  of 
Governor  Griswold  writes  as  follows: 

"  But  if  we  descend  to  the  more  private  walks  of  life,  and  view 
his  character  as  a  private  citizen,  we  shall  find  the  social  sweetly- 
blended  with  the  Christian  virtues.  He  possessed  a  benevolent 
disposition  which  rendered  his  deportment  truly  engaging  in  all  the 
domestic  relations.  Having  a  frank  and  an  open  heart  he  was 
sincere  in  all  his  professions  of  friendship,  and  consequently  enjoyed 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  a  numerous  and  extensive  acquaintance. 
He  was  truly  hospitable  and  abounded  in  acts  of  charity.  The 
children  of  want  he  never  sent  hungry  from  his  door,  but,  guided 
by  a  real  sympathy,  he  fed  the  hungry,  clothed  the  naked,  and 
relieved  the  distressed." 


109 


The 
EIGHTEENTH      GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

SAMUEL     HUNTINGTON 

The  son  of  a  Windham  farmer  who  first 
learned  the  cooper's  trade  and  by  industry- 
became  proficient  in  law,  receiving  distinc- 
tion at  the  bar,  becoming  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  passing 
through  various  political  trusts  to  the  gov- 
ernorship and  finally  to  Congress  where  he 
was    elected  to  the  presidency  of  that  body 


SAMUEL 


HUNTINGTON 


IN  many  ways  the  career  of  Samuel  Huntington,  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 

of  any  of  our  governors.  The  story  of  his  life  is  that  of  a 
plow-boy,  who,  by  his  own  exertions,  became  a  great  lawyer, 
president  of  Congress,  chief  justice  of  the  Connecticut  Supreme 
Court,  and  finally  governor  of  his  native  state.  It  affords  a  brilliant 
example  of  what  a  man  can  do  in  attaining  great  honors  through 
self-education. 

Samuel  Huntington  was  the  son  of  a  poor  farmer  living  in 
Windham,  but  whose  ancestors  were  from  the  town  of  Saybrook, 
where  they  were  early  settlers.  He  was  born  on  July  2,  1731,  and 
his  early  life  was  characterized  by  industrious  habits,  a  great  desire 
to  work  and  to  obtain  knowledge.  His  father,  a  hard  working 
farmer  struggled  to  give  his  son  the  education  he  desired,  but 
apprenticed  him  early  in  life  to  learn  the  cooper's  trade.  He  also 
worked  on  the  farm  at  odd  times,  and  attended  the  district  school 
irregularly.  All  his  youthful  energies  were  bent  in  one  direction, 
and  that  object  was  the  advancement  of  his  mind.  The  numberless 
obstacles  which  present  themselves  to  every  poor  boy  were  bravely 

113 


'T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

brushed  aside  in  his  case.  By  unremitting  study  during  his  spare 
hours  Huntington  acquired  a  fairly  good  knowledge  of  Latin  and 
several  other  studies,  so  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  decided  to 
study  law. 

With  only  borrowed  books  and  no  instructors  whatever  he  set 
about  the  task  with  a  grim  determination  that  meant  success.  He 
was  indefatigable  in  his  labor,  and  in  due  time  mastered  the  law 
sufficiently,  so  that  he  commenced  the  practice  of  his  chosen  pro- 
fession. Clients  were  plentiful,  and  he  soon  acquired  so  good  a 
reputation  that  he  decided  to  move  to  Norwich — a  much  larger 
field.  This  was  in  1760,  and  his  public  career  commenced  soon 
afterward ;  for  his  uncommon  ability  was  recognized  at  once,  and 
honors  heaped  upon  him. 

In  1764  he  was  elected  a  representative  from  the  town  of  Nor- 
wich to  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  following  year  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  governor's  council.  As  king's  attorney  in  1765  he 
served  with  distinction;  in  1774  he  was  appointed  an  associate 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  in  1775  a  delegate  from  Con- 
necticut to  the  Continental  Congress. 

In  Congress  Huntington  displayed  his  fine  talents  and  his  great 
learning  to  good  effect.  He  was  a  zealous  supporter  and  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  a  man  whose  loyalty  and 
patriotism  was  of  the  most  sturdy  type.  Continued  in  Congress  for 
about  five  consecutive  terms,   Huntington  was  a  valued  member, 

114 


'T'  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

highly  esteemed  by  his  colleagues.  In  1779  he  was  honored  by 
being  elected  president  of  Congress,  then  the  highest  office  in  the  land. 
He  held  this  position  from  September  28,  1779,  to  July  6,  1781, 
succeeding  John  Jay  who  had  been  appointed  minister  to  Spain. 
In  1781  his  health  failed  to  such  an  extent  that  he  retired  from 
Congress,  and  his  resignation  was  accepted  with  reluctance  on  July 
6th  of  that  year.  In  parting  he  received  the  unanimous  thanks  of 
Congress  "  in  testimony  of  appreciation  of  his  conduct  in  the  chair 
and  in  the  execution  of  public  business." 

Returning  to  Connecticut  he  resumed  his  duties  in  the 
governor's  council  and  on  the  bench,  having  been  continued  in 
both  offices  during  his  congressional  career.  Two  years  later  he 
returned  to  Congress  and  soon  became  actively  engaged  in  its 
deliberations.  He  again  retired  during  the  same  year  and  went  to 
Norwich ;  but  he  was  not  destined  to  remain  out  of  office  long,  for 
in  1784  he  received  the  appointment  as  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  During  the  same  year  he  was  elected  lieutenant  governor, 
and  in  1786  was  advanced  to  the  office  of  governor.  He  held  the 
position  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on  January  5,  1796,  at  his 
home  in  Norwich.  As  governor  of  his  native  state,  he  displayed 
that  superior  judgment  for  which  he  was  famous  throughout  his  life. 

As  an  instance  of  the  repute  in  which  Governor  Huntington 
was  held  as  a  statesman  may  be  noted  the  fact  that  each  of  the 
corporations  of  Yale  and  Dartmouth  colleges,    in    1787  and    1785 

115 


^  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

respectively,  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws.  A  biographer  has  written :  "  He  was  a  thoughtful  man  and 
talked  but  little — the  expression  of  his  mind  and  heart  was  put 
forth  in  his  actions.  He  seemed  to  have  a  natural  timidity,  or 
modesty,  which  some  mistook  for  the  reserve  of  haughtiness;  yet 
with  those  with  whom  he  was  familiar  he  was  free  and  winning  in 
his  manner.  As  a  devoted  Christian  and  a  true  patriot  he  never 
swerved  from  his  duty  or  looked  back  after  he  had  placed  his  hand 
to  the  work."  A  nephew  of  the  governor,  adopted  and  educated 
by  him,  was  governor  of  Ohio  from  1808  to  1810,  and  one  of  the 
most  prominent  citizens  of  that  state. 


n6 


"lie 
NINETEENTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

OLIVER     WOLCOTT 

Born  in  Windsor  and  graduated  from  Yaie 
College,  he  entered  the  army  and  became  a 
military  ofiScer,  marching  his  men  to  the 
northern  frontier  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  thwarting  the  British  by  his  heroic 
soldiery  in  the  Revolution,  serving  his  com- 
monwealth in  Congress,  becoming  a  signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the 
second  member  of  the  distinguished  Wolcott 
family  to    occupy  the    office   of  governor 


0iC^^S^dk- 


OLIVER 


W     O    L     C     O     T     T 


OLIVER  Wolcott,  the  second  member  of  that  famous  family 
to  occupy  the  office  of  governor,  was  a  distinguished  soldier, 
a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  a  member 
of  Congress.  He  was  the  son  of  Governor  Roger  Wolcott,  and 
was  born  in  Windsor  on  November  20,  1726.  Entering  Yale 
College  in  1743  he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1747.  Almost 
immediately  after  graduation  the  young  man  entered  the  army, 
received  a  captain's  commission,  and  recruited  a  company  at  once. 
Marching  his  men  to  the  northern  frontier  he  took  an  active  part  in 
the  French  and  Indian  War  which  was  then  raging.  The  following 
year,  1748,  the  treaty  of  Aix-La-Chapelle  was  concluded,  and  as 
that  put  an  end  to  further  hostilities,  Wolcott's  services  were  no 
longer  needed,  so  he  returned  to  Connecticut. 

As  a  proof  of  his  great  ability  as  a  military  officer  may  be 
instanced  the  fact  that  he  left  this  state  as  a  captain  and  returned  a 
major  general.  He  retired  to  private  life  at  this  time  and  began  the 
study  of  medicine  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Alexander  Wolcott,  a 
brother,  and  one  of  the  celebrated  practitioners  of  the  day.  Upon 
the  completion  of  his  studies  Wolcott  began  to  practice  in  Goshen, 
but  soon  received  the   appointment  as  sheriff  of  the  recently  organ- 

119 


^  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

ized  Litchfield  County.  In  1774  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
council  and  continued  holding  the  office  until  1786,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  he  was,  during  the  same  period,  a  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  judge  of  the  Litchfield  County  Court,  and 
judge  of  probate  for  the  district.  He  did  excellent  service  also  as 
a  member  of  the  commission  on  Indian  affairs,  appointed  by  the 
first  Congress.  Much  of  his  time  was  devoted  toward  bringing 
about  a  satisfactory  settlement  between  Pennsylvania  and  Connec- 
ticut over  the  Wyoming  controversy. 

General  Wolcott  first  took  his  seat  in  the  second  Congress  in 
January,  1776,  and  was  in  attendance  throughout  the  famous 
debates  over  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  During  this  critical 
period  he  distinguished  himself  by  upholding  the  cause  of  the  col- 
onies with  a  spirit  of  lofty  patriotism.  He  signed  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  then  returned  to  Connecticut,  where  his  val- 
uable services  were  needed  in  the  field.  The  governor  placed  him 
in  command  of  a  detachment  of  Connecticut  militia  embracing 
fourteen  regiments  raised  for  the  defense  of  New  York.  He 
thoroughly  organized  these  troops,  divided  them  into  brigades, 
and  participated  in  the  actions  about  New  York;  but  returned  to 
his  home  in  Litchfield  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island  had  been 
fought.  In  November  of  that  year  he  resumed  his  seat  in  Congress 
and  was  with  that  body  when  in  December,  1776,  Congress  fled  to 
Baltimore  from  Philadelphia  on  account  of  the  occupation  of  the 
latter  place  by  the  British. 


T^  h  e       Governor   s       of       Connecticut 

Having  raised  several  thousand  recruits  during  the  summer  of 
1777,  General  Wolcott  reinforced  General  Putnam  on  Hudson's 
river,  and  rendered  valuable  assistance  to  the  latter  officer.  Dur- 
ing this  period  he  was  corresponding  with  leaders  throughout  the 
colonies  on  matters  of  military  importance.  In  the  fall  he  joined 
General  Horatio  Gates,  in  the  northern  department,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  capture  of  Burgoyne's  army  in  October  of  that  year. 
During  these  operations  General  Wolcott  was  in  command  of  a 
brigade. 

Returning  to  Congress,  which  was  then  assembled  at  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Wolcott  resumed  his  seat  in  that  body  and 
remained  until  July,  1778. 

When  General  Tryon  began  his  expedition  of  plunder  and 
devastation  of  Connecticut  towns  during  the  summer  of  1 779  Gen- 
eral Wolcott  took  command  of  a  division  of  state  militia  and 
defended  the  southwestern  coast  in  a  successful  manner.  Fairfield 
and  Norwalk  were  laid  in  ashes,  and  other  towns  plundered  in  a 
barbarous  manner,  but  the  heroic  work  of  General  Wolcott's  com- 
mand thwarted  many  plans  of  the  British. 

In  1780  Wolcott  was  again  elected  a  member  of  Congress, 
which  office  he  held  for  the  next  four  years,  although  he  did  not 
attend  the  sessions  regularly.  During  these  years  his  time  was 
divided,  attending  to  civil  and  military  affairs  in  Connecticut.  He 
also  acted  as  an  Indian  agent  during  a  portion  of  this  period. 


'T'  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

General  Wolcott  was  one  of  the  commissioners  who  settled 
terms  of  peace  with  the  famous  Six  Nations,  a  tribe  of  Indians  who 
lived  in  the  western  portion  of  New  York,  and  had  spread  terror 
and  desolation  among  the  white  inhabitants  for  years.  In  1786 
General  Wolcott  was  chosen  lieutenant  governor  of  Connecticut, 
and  was  re-elected  to  this  office  every  year  until  1796,  when  he 
was  chosen  governor  of  his  native  state.  He  served  one  year  and 
was  then  re-elected,  but  did  not  complete  the  term,  as  he  died  while 
in  office  on  December  1,  1797,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age. 

Governor  Wolcott's  patriotism  was  of  the  highest  type,  and  he 
was  always  looked  upon  by  the  leaders  of  the  Revolution  as  a  brave 
defender  of  the  cause. 

In  1776  Governor  Wolcott's  home  in  Litchfield  was  the  scene 
of  a  famous  episode  which  has  been  rehearsed  many  times.  For  a 
time  one  of  the  principal  ornaments  of  lower  New  York,  was  an 
equestrian  statue  of  George  III.  This  was  cast  in  lead  and  stood 
on  Bowling  Green  where  it  attracted  much  attention.  Exactly  one 
week  after  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  this 
statue  of  King  George  was  taken  down  and  carried  by  night  to  the 
home  of  General  Wolcott  in  Litchfield.  Here  a  sort  of  celebra- 
tion was  held  and  then  the  statue  was  cast  into  bullets,  making 
42,088  cartridges,  which  were  used  by  the  Continental  soldiers. 

The  historian  of  Litchfield  pays  this  tribute  to  his  public 
career :     "He  was  singularly  modest  and  even  diffident  in  his  inter- 


'T'  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

course  with  men  in  the  common  walks  of  Hfe.  Those  who  best 
knew  this  gentlemen  well  knew  that  the  highest  trust  was  never 
improperly  placed  in  him.  He  possessed  a  benevolent  heart  and 
was  warm  in  his  friendship ;  a  firm  friend  to  order ;  a  promoter  of 
peace;  a  lover  of  religion;  and  a  tried,  unshaken  friend  to  the 
institution  of  the  gospel.  He  was  an  indefatigable  student,  and 
neither  wasted  his  time  nor  his  words.  His  mind  was  clear  and 
penetrating;  his  views  of  political  subjects  just  and  comprehensive; 
his  discernment  of  the  wisest  means  to  promote  the  best  ends,  ready 
and  exact;  and  his  acquaintance  with  science,  particularly  with 
theology,  extensive.  He  had  remarkable  talent  at  investigation. 
He  has  left  a  name  which  is  a  sweet  savor  to  his  surviving  friends; 
and  a  lively  hope  that  he  is  enjoying  the  rewards  of  the  faithful  in 
immortal  bliss." 

Lossing  says  of  Governor  Wolcott :  "As  a  patriot  and  states- 
man, a  Christian  and  a  man,  Governor  Wolcott  presented  a  bright 
example;  for  inflexibility,  virtue,  piety,  and  integrity  were  his 
prominent  characteristics." 

A  son,  Oliver  Wolcott,  Jr.,  became  secretary  of  the  United 
States  Treasury,  and  the  first  governor  of  Connecticut  under  the 
Constitution. 


123 


TWENTIETH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was  the  second 
JONATHAN    TRUMBULL 

A  son  of  the  famous  "  war  governor  "  born 
in  Lebanon,  graduated  from  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  a  member  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution — He 
entered  the  conflict  and  was  chosen  private 
secretary  and  first  aid  to  General  Washing- 
ton, becoming  second  speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  governor  of 
Connecticut  for  eleven  consecutive    years 


JONATHAN 


TRUMBULL,      2nd 


THE  second  Jonathan  Trumbull  was  one  of  the  governors  of 
this  commonwealth  that  acquired  a  national  reputation.  Born 
at  Lebanon,  on  March  26,  1740,  he  was  the  second  son  of 
Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  famous  "war  governor."  He  prepared  for 
and  entered  Harvard  College  in  1 755  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years. 
While  a  college  student  he  had  a  reputation  for  scholarly  ability 
that  followed  him  throughout  his  career. 

When  he  was  graduated  with  honors  in  1 759,  a  useful  and  patri- 
otic career  was  predicted  by  his  friends.  Settling  in  Lebanon, Trum- 
bull was  soon  elected  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  was  in 
that  body  when  the  Revolutionary  War  opened.  He  immediately 
entered  into  the  conflict  with  the  same  strong  spirit  of  determination 
which  characterized  his  life  afterward.  The  Continental  Congress 
appointed  Trumbull  paymaster-general  of  the  northern  department 
of  the  Colonial  army  under  General  Washington.  This  position  he 
filled  with  such  thorough  satisfaction  to  the  commander-in-chief,  that 
in  1781  Trumbull  was  selected  to  succeed  Alexander  Hamilton  as 
private  secretary  and  first  aid  to  Major  General  Washington.  He 
held  this  honorable  position  until  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  when 

127 


^  b   e       G   0  V  e  r  ?i   0   r   s        of       Connecticut 

he  returned  to  Connecticut.  Shortly  after  his  return  he  was  again 
elected  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  was  twice  made  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  In  1789  he  was  elected  as  a  Federahst 
to  represent  his  district  in  Congress,  and  in  that  capacity  he  won 
distinction  of  a  high  order.  Two  years  after  his  first  election  to 
Congress,  Trumbull  was  chosen  second  speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  succeeding  the  Honorable  F.  A.  Muhlenburg 
of  Pennsylvania.  Trumbull  continued  in  this  office  four  years 
when  he  succeeded  the  Honorable  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell  of 
Wethersfield  as  United  States  Senator  from  Connecticut. 

He  w^as  a  member  of  the  Senate  only  a  short  time  as  he 
resigned  in  1796  to  accept  the  office  of  lieutenant  governor  of 
Connecticut. 

Trumbull  left  a  reputation  in  Congress  as  an  honorable  and 
talented  legislator.  He  was  heutenant  governor  two  years  and  in 
1798  succeeded  General  Wolcott  as  governor  of  Connecticut. 
Governor  Trumbull  was  also  chief  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Errors,  while  holding  the  office  of  governor.  He  was  governor 
of  Connecticut  for  eleven  consecutive  years,  the  longest  since  his 
father's  administration — a  record  that  has  not  been  equalled  by  any 
chief  executive  since  that  date. 

Governor  Trumbull  died  at  his  home  in  Lebanon  on  August 
7,  1809,  having  reached  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years.  In  Dr.  Stanley 
Griswold's   "Miscellaneous   Sermons"  is   this  tribute  to   Governor 

128 


T'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

Trumbull's  accomplishments :  "Genius,  docility,  and  love  of  learn- 
ing appeared  in  early  years.  At  fifteen  admitted  to  Harvard, 
receiving  its  honors  in  1759,  he  left  the  University  with  his  charac- 
ter unblemished,  respectable  for  science,  and  peculiarly  amiable 
in  manners." 

Another  writer  says  of  him :  "Governor  Trumbull  was  a  man 
of  handsome  talents,  of  very  respectable  acquirements,  of  amiable 
manner,  and  was  distinguished  for  his  social  virtues.  The  confi- 
dence of  his  fellow  citizens,  which  he  so  long  enjoyed  in  a  very 
eminent  degree,  affords  the  most  satisfactory  evidence  of  his  talents 
and  virtues." 


129 


T:he 
TWENTY-FIRST   GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
JOHN      TREADWELL 

The  son  of  a  well-to-do  mechanic  in  Farming- 
ton,  he  was  graduated  from  Yale  College, 
studied  law,  engaged  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness and  later  became  a  manufacturer — He 
became  active  in  the  struggle  for  freedom, 
entered  politics  and  was  elected  to  many 
executive  honors,  becoming  the  last  of 
the  Puritan  governors  of  Connecticut  and 
later     a      writer      on      theological     subjects 


JOHN 


TREADWELL 


JOHN  Treadwell  was  the  last  of  the  Puritan  governors  of  Con- 
necticut, and  in  him  we  see  blended  for  the  last  time  the 
theologian  and  statesman.  He  was  born  at  Farmington, 
November  23,  1745,  and  lived  there  all  his  life.  His  father  was 
a  well-to-do  mechanic,  and  a  stern  Puritan,  who  told  his  son  when 
he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen  that  he  could  have  one  week  in  which 
to  decide  whether  he  would  receive  a  college  education.  The 
future  governor  accepted  the  offer  before  the  week  had  expired, 
and  Rev.  Timothy  Pitkin,  a  son  of  Governor  Pitkin,  set  about 
preparing  the  young  man  for  college.  In  1763,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  Treadwell  entered  Yale  where  he  gave  particular  attention 
to  the  classics.  It  is  said  that  John  Locke's  "Essay  on  the  Human 
Understanding,"  and  Jonathan  Edward's  "Inquiry  into  the  Freedom 
of  the  Will,"  were  his  favorite  works.  He  was  graduated  from  Yale 
in  the  class  of  1767,  and  being  heir  to  a  considerable  fortune  he 
rejected  the  idea  of  pursuing  a  professional  career,  although  he 
studied  law  with  Judge  Hosmer  of  Middletown.  Soon  after, 
Treadwell  engaged  in  a  mercantile  business,  hoping  to  increase 
his  income  but  the  result  was  an  embarrassing  failure. 

133 


'^  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

He  began  the  manufacture  of  nitre  later  on,  however,  and  extri- 
cated himself  from  the  financial  loss  he  had  previously  sustained. 

During  the  Revolutionary  period  Treadwell  engaged  in  the 
struggle  for  freedom.  In  1754  and  1755  he  was  active  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  "Committee  of  Inspection  and  Correspondence,"  and  in 
1776  his  townsmen  elected  him  as  their  representative  in  the  General 
Assembly.  This  office  he  held  for  the  next  seven  years,  when  in 
1783,  he  was  elevated  to  the  governor's  council.  He  continued  as  a 
member  of  this  body  by  successive  elections  until  1 798.  Treadwell 
was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  1785  and  1786.  In 
1789  he  was  elected  judge  of  probate  of  the  Farmington  district  and 
also  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors,  These  offices  he  held 
until  1809,  and  he  was  afterward  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  several  years.  He  was  elected  lieutenant  governor  in  1798 
and  continued  in  this  office  until  1809,  when  he  succeeded  Trumbull 
as  governor.     Governor  Treadwell  held  the  office  almost  two  years. 

In  1795  Governor  Treadwell  took  an  important  part  in 
negotiating  the  sale  of  lands  in  Ohio  the  proceeds  of  which  consti- 
tuted the  Connecticut  School  Fund.  He  was  one  of  the  delegates 
to  the  convention  at  Hartford  that  ratified  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  in  1788. 

Thirty  years  later  Governor  Treadwell  was  also  an  important 
member  of  the  convention  which  formed  our  present  constitution. 
In  1800  Yale  College  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

134 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Retiring  from  public  life  in  1811  Governor  Treadwell  spent  a 
large  portion  of  his  time  in  writing  on  religious  subjects.  He  was 
attentive  to  the  scriptures  from  his  youth  up,  and  was  assisted  in 
the  acquisition  of  religious  knowledge  by  the  study  of  the  New 
Testament  in  the  original  Greek.  The  outcome  was  a  series  of  essays 
on  theological  subjects,  which  are  preserved,  but  were  never  pub- 
lished. Governor  Treadwell  was  active  in  founding  the  "Connecti- 
cut Missionary  Society,"  the  first  organization  of  its  kind  in  North 
America.  Governor  Treadwell  was  one  of  the  rich  men  of  the 
section,  his  estate  inventorying  $74,000. 

He  died  at  his  home  in  Farmington  on  August  18,  1823. 
His  death  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  people  of  Farmington.  Rev. 
Dr.  Noah  Porter,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Farming- 
ton,  preached  the  governor's  funeral  sermon.  Among  other  things 
he  said,  "He  was  never  suspected  of  partiality,  duplicity,  or  a  time- 
serving policy.  He  was  known  to  act  uprightly,  and  with  a  sincere 
desire  to  promote  the  public  good.  Probably  no  man  was  better 
acquainted  with  the  internal  policy  of  the  state.  And  it  is  a  sin- 
gular proof  of  his  fidelity,  if  not  his  disinterestedness,  that  after  this 
long  and  arduous  course  of  public  service  he  had  only  about  the 
same  amount  of  property  that  he  had  possessed  when  he 
began  it.  The  emoluments  of  all  his  offices,  together 
with  the  income  of  his  farm,  but  little  exceeded  the  expenses  of 
his  family." 

135 


T"  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Professor  Olmstead  writing  of  his  ability  as  a  scholar  says: 
"It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  few,  if  any,  of  our  chief  magistrates 
have  retained  more  fully  the  acquisition  of  their  youth,  or  distin- 
guished the  latter  periods  of  life  by  more  solid  learning.  What  was 
his  comparative  ability  or  usefulness,  as  a  theologian  or  as  a  magis- 
trate and  civilian,  it  would  be  difficult  to  decide.  This  is  much 
more  evident,  that  few  men  have  combined  in  themselves  in  so 
eminent  a  degree  the  most  important  qualifications  for  all  three  and 
that  in  him  they  reflected  on  each  other  a  lustre,  and  together 
formed  an  excellence  of  character  such  as  we  are  not  often  in  this 
world  to  behold." 


136 


'The 
TWENTY-SECOND  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
ROGER    GRISWOLD 

The  son  and  grandson  of  governors,  he  studied 
law  with  his  father  at  his  birthplace  in  Lyme, 
graduated  from  Yale  College,  and  btgan  his 
brilliant  career  at  the  bar  in  Norwich — Later  he 
returned  to  Lyme  and  was  elected  as  a  Federalist 
to  represent  his  district  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives where  he  ranked  as  a  leader  of  his  party  in 
the  administration  of  Washington  and  John 
Adams  and  was  invited  by  the  latter  to  be- 
come   a    member    of    his    cabinet    but    declined 


ROGER 


G     R     I     S     W     O     L     D 


THE  second  Governor  Griswold  was  descended  from  two 
governors  of  Connecticut,  he  being  the  son  of  Matthew 
Griswold,  and  grandson  of  Roger  Wolcott.  He  inherited 
many  of  the  distinguished  traits  of  his  able  ancestors. 

Roger  Griswold  was  born  in  Lyme  on  May  21,  1762,  and 
entered  Yale  College  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  He  was  graduated  in 
1780,  and  immediately  began  the  study  of  law  in  his  father's  ofBce. 

In  1783  Griswold  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  commenced 
his  brilliant  career  in  the  town  of  Norwich.  Great  success  was  his 
from  the  first,  and  few  men  in  this  state  have  ever  acquired  a  greater 
reputation  at  the  bar  than  Roger  Griswold.  .  He  returned  to  his 
native  town  of  Lyme  in  1794  and  was  elected  as  a  Federalist  to 
represent  his  district  in  the  national  House  of  Representatives. 
He  was  re-elected  five  consecutive  times,  serving  from  1795  to 
1805.  During  the  time  he  served  as  a  congressman  his  ability 
and  profound  judgment  placed  him  in  the  front  ranks.  The  period 
covered  a  portion  of  Washington's  administration,  the  whole  of 
John  Adam's,  and  a  part  of  Jefferson's.  He  ranked  with  the 
first  of  his  party,  was  distinguished  "for  his  powerful  talents  in 
debate,  and  the  independence  and  decision  of  his  conduct." 

^39 


T  b   e        G   0  V   e   r   71   0   r   s       of       Coniiecticut 

In  1798  Griswold  had  a  "violent  personal  encounter"  with 
Matthew  Lyon,  the  famous  Vermont  politician.  Lyon  appeared  to 
be  the  aggressor,  although  an  attempt  to  expel  him  from  the 
House  was  unsuccessful.  In  1801  President  Adams  offered 
Griswold  the  position  of  secretary  of  war  in  his  cabinet,  but  he 
declined  the  office,  having  previously  requested  the  president  to 
withdraw  the  nomination. 

Returning  to  Connecticut,  Griswold  was  in  1807  chosen  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  remained  on  the  bench  two  years, 
when  the  Legislature  elected  him  lieutenant  governor. 

The  same  year,  1809,  he  was  also  a  presidential  elector  on  the 
Pinckney  and  King  ticket.  Harvard  College  honored  him  in  1811 
by  conferring  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  Yale  followed  in 
1812  with  the  same  degree, 

Griswold  served  as  lieutenant  governor  two  years,  when  in 
1811  he  was  elected  governor  of  Connecticut.  During  his  adminis- 
tration the  president  made  a  requisition  on  Connecticut  for  four 
companies  of  troops  for  garrison  duty,  but  Governor  Griswold 
refused  to  furnish  them  on  the  ground,  that  they  were  not  needed 
to  "repel  invasion."  Governor  Griswold  had  been  in  office  nearly 
a  year  and  a  half  when  he  died  on  Sunday,  October  25,  1812. 
Taken  away  in  the  prime  of  life,  his  death  was  generally  lamented. 
The  Honorable  David  Daggett  delivered  an  eloquent  eulogy  upon 
his  character  before  both  houses  of  the  legislature  at  New  Haven. 

Leading    public    men    at    the    time    agreed    that    Governor 

140 


T!  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

Griswold  had  few  equals  in  his  day.  The  late  Chief  Justice 
Waite  wrote  of  him,  "In  all  positions  he  proved  himself  a 
born  master  of  men."  A  writer  in  the  New  England  Review  said  : 
"Few  have  been  more  universally  esteemed  and  loved.  He  lived 
in  a  critical  and  eventful  time  in  our  existence;  and  pre-emi- 
nently acted  well  his  part,  deserving  and  receiving  the  highest  hon- 
ors his  native  state  could  bestow  upon  him." 

In  personal  appearance  Governor  Griswold  was  "a  very  hand- 
some man,  with  large  flashing  eyes,  a  commanding  figure,  and 
majestic  mien  — he  seemed  by  outward  presence  born  to  rule." 

Of  his  executive  ability  it  has  been  said  that  "the  secret  of  his 
power  lay  in  the  wonderful  promptness  of  his  mind,  which  penetrated 
every  subject  presented  to  it  and  saw  it  clearly  in  all  its  connections." 

The  following  is  on  the  family  monument  near  Black  Hall : 

"He  was  respected  in  the  university  as  an  elegant  classical 
scholar.  Quick  discernment,  sound  reasoning,  legal  science,  manly 
eloquence,  raised  him  to  the  first  eminence  at  the  bar.  Distin- 
guished in  the  national  council  among  the  illustrious  statesmen  of 
his  age  — revered  for  his  inflexible  integrity  and  pre-eminent  talents, 
his  political  course  was  highly  honorable  ....  His  fame  and  honor 
were  the  first  rewards  of  noble  action,  and  of  a  life  devoted  to  his 
country.  ...  His  memory  is  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  surviving 
relatives  and  of  a  grateful  people.  When  this  monument  shall  have 
decayed  his  name  will  be  enrolled  with  honor  among  the  great,  the 
wise,  and  the  good." 

141 


"The 
TWENTY-THIRD     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
JOHN      COTTON      SMITH 

The  last  governor  of  the  old  regime  and  an  embod- 
iment of  many  of  the  traits  of  the  early  statesmen 
of  the  republic — He  was  born  in  Sharon,  the  son 
of  a  clergyman,  and  reared  in  the  typical  New 
England  Household  where  the  law  of  God  is 
uppermost — His  early  education  was  conducted 
by  his  mother  and  after  graduation  from  Yale  Col- 
lege he  became  a  brilliant  lawyer  and  statesman 


^^paL  ^.    c^-^^-i^^O^ 


JOHN 


COTTON 


SMITH 


THE  last  governor  of  the  old  regime  was  John  Cotton  Smith. 
It  has  been  said  that  he  exhibited  many  of  the  striking 
traits  of  the  founders  of  this  republic. 

He  was  born  in  Sharon  on  February  12,  1765,  and  was  the 
:son  of  a  clergyman  of  considerable  power.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Rev.  William  Worthington  of  Saybrook.  Governor 
Smith  inherited  the  blood  of  those  famous  Massachusetts  divines 
—  John  Cotton  and  Richard  Mather. 

The  home  where  John  Cotton  was  reared  was  a  typical  New 
England  household  where  the  law  of  God  was  uppermost. 

His  early  education  was  conducted  by  his  talented  mother; 
then  he  prepared  for  Yale  College  under  the  direction  of  the 
Reverend  Brinsmade  of  Washington.  Entering  college  in  1779  at 
the  age  of  fourteen,  he  was  graduated  with  h  .lor  in  1783.  Immedi- 
ately after  leaving  Yale,  Smith  entered  the  office  of  John  Canfield,  an 
attorney  at  Sharon,  and  commenced  the  study  of  the  law.     In  1787 

145 


'J'  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Litchfield  County.  When  the  young 
man  commenced  to  practice  he  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  the 
best  legal  talent  of  the  state,  as  the  Litchfield  County  Bar  was 
then  famous  for  its  brilliant  array  of  able  lawyers. 

Success  attended  his  efforts  for  advancement,  and  in  1793  he 
was  elected  a  representative  from  his  native  town.  He  also  served 
as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  1796  to  1800. 
In  October,  1799,  Smith  was  chosen  clerk,  and  during  both  sessions 
of  the  following  year  he  occupied  the  speaker's  chair. 

During  his  term  of  service  Smith  was  a  strong  supporter  of  the 
old  Federal  party,  and  through  the  stormy  period  from  then  to  1818 
he  steadfastly  opposed  the  increasing  demand  for  a  new  constitution. 

Elected  as  a  member  of  Congress  in  the  fall  of  1800  he  repre- 
sented his  district  in  the  House  of  Representatives  until  1806. 
While  in  Congress  he  was  widely  known  as  an  accomplished  scholar 
and  a  man  of  sound  judgment.  He  was  often  called  upon  to  pre- 
side when  such  statesmen  as  Pinckney,  John  Randolph,  Otis,  Lee, 
and  Griswold  were  at  the  height  of  their  fame.  Smith  resigned  his 
seat  in  Congress  in  order  "that  he  might  the  better  administer  to  the 
comfort  of  an  aged  father."  Returning  to  Sharon  he  took  charge 
of  the  ancestral  farm,  at  the  same  time  engaging  in  literary  pursuits, 
which  his  early  training  and  hereditary  tastes  made  very  con- 
genial. His  townsmen  soon  returned  him  to  the  Legislature 
where  he  was  made  speaker  of  the  House,  representing  the  town  in 
146 


T!  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

that  body  until  1809.  In  that  year  Smith  was  chosen  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court,  and  his  opinions  were,  to  quote  Hollister, 
"among  the  best  in  our  reports,  and  are  distinguished  for  their  clear- 
ness of  thought  and  finish  of  diction." 

In  1809  he  was  elected  lieutenant  governor  of  the  state,  hold- 
ing the  office  one  year  and  seven  months.  During  a  large  portion 
of  the  time  that  he  held  this  office  Governor  Griswold  was  ill  and 
unable  to  attend  to  the  duties  of  state.  The  responsibilities  of  the 
chief  executive  at  a  critical  juncture,  fell  upon  the  shoulders  of 
Lieutenant  Governor  Smith. 

Governor  Griswold  died  in  1812,  and  the  same  year  John 
Cotton  Smith  was  elected  to  take  his  place.  He  was  governor  of  the 
state  for  over  four  years,  during  a  period  that  the  commonwealth  was 
convulsed  by  the  strained  relations  existing  between  the  two  dom- 
inant political  parties  —  the  Federalists  and  the  Anti- Federalists. 
Governor  Smith  was  not  in  favor  of  changing  the  old  form  of  gov- 
ernment for  a  new  one,  so  when  his  party  was  defeated  in  1817, 
and  Wolcott,  the  Anti-Federalist  champion,  elected  governor,  he 
retired  from  the  political  arena.  Settling  once  more  on  his  farm  of 
over  a  thousand  acres,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two  years,  Governor  Smith 
passed  the  remaining  twenty-eight  years  of  his  life. 

Many  honors  came  to  him  in  his  retirement;  Yale  College 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  elected  him  its  presi- 

147 


'^  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

dent,  in  1826;  he  was  the  first  president  of  the  Connecticut  Bible 
Society  and  in  1836  the  Royal  College  of  Northern  Antiquarians  of 
Copenhagen  elected  him  a  member' of  that  body.  Governor  Smith 
was  also  an  active  member  of  both  the  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut Historical  Societies. 

"  Dividing  his  time,"  says  a  writer,  "  between  the  scholastic 
studies  that  had  coupled  so  large  a  portion  of  his  youth,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  agriculture,  he  lived  the  life,  then  almost  obsolete,  of  the 
Connecticut  planters  of  the  seventeenth  century.  His  hospitable 
mansion  was  always  thronged  with  the  most  refined  and  cultured 
guests,  who,  on  whatever  points  they  might  differ,  all  agreed  that 
their  entertainer  was  an  unrivalled  gentleman  in  the  highest  and 
best  sense  of  the  word." 

Governor  Smith  died  in  his  home  in  Sharon  on  December  7, 
1 845,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years. 

"His  character  can  be  likened  to  nothing  that  better  illustrates 
it,"  says  a  historian,  "than  the  warm  smiling  Sharon  valley  on  a 
summer's  morning,  when  the  grass  sparkles  with  dew  and  the  bright 
lakes  gleam  in  the  sunshine." 


'The 
TWENTY-FOURTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
OLIVER        WOLCOTT 

The  third  member  of  that  famous  family  to  occupy 
the  office,  and  the  first  governor  of  this  state  under 
the  present  Constitution — He  was  born  in  Litchfield 
and  at  an  early  age  joined  the  militia  and  while 
his  father  was  absent  in  Congress  the  coura- 
geous son  shouldered  the  responsibility  of  obtaining 
fuel  and  provisions  for  the  family  and  keeping  the 
roads  open  for  transportation  of  army  stores  under 
his  charge — Young  Wolcott  left  his  home  with 
three  dollars  in  his  pocket  and  began  a  career 
which    carried    him    into    the   president's    cabinet 


OLIVER 


W     O     L     C     O     T     T 


THE  first  governor  of  this  state  under  the  present  constitution 
was  Oliver  Wolcott,  the  third  member  of  that  famous 
family  to  occupy  the  office.  The  political  power  of  the 
Wolcott's  was  exercised  from  the  early  days  of  the  colony  far  into 
the  century  just  closed.  They  were  men  of  great  mental  power, 
excellent  executive  ability,  and  it  could  truthfully  be  said  of  them 
as  it  was  of  the  famous  Mather  family  in  Massachusetts,  that  the 
prominent  traits  which  were  pronounced  in  the  father  were  stronger 
in  the  son,  and  yet  stronger  in  the  grandson. 

Oliver  Wolcott  was  born  in  Litchfield  on  January  ii,  1760, 
and  was  a  son  of  Governor  Oliver  Wolcott  and  Loraine  Collins  of 
Guilford,  a  sister  of  General  Augustus  Collins,  a  distinguished 
officer  in  the  Revolution.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  1774,  but 
two  years  later  he  volunteered  in  the  militia  and  left  his  studies. 
Wolcott  was  in  the  force  that  went  to  Danbury  to  repel  the  inva- 
sion of  General  Tryon,  and  he  took  part  in  a  skirmish  at  Wilton. 
He  returned  to  college  and  after  graduation  began  the  study  of  law 
at  the  famous  school  conducted  by  Tapping  Reeve  and  Judge 
Gould  at  Litchfield.     During  the  summer  of  1779  he  was  with  his 

151 


^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

father  as  aide-de-camp,  who  was  then  commanding  on  the  western 
borders  of  the  state.  After  accompanying  his  father  to  the  coast  he 
accepted  a  quartermaster's  position.  This  was  a  period  of  great 
privation  for  his  family  at  Litchfield.  The  elder  Wolcott  was 
absent  in  Congress,  and  on  the  son's  shoulders  fell  the  responsibility 
of  obtaining  fuel  and  provisions  for  the  family.  He  was  also 
obliged  to  keep  open  the  roads  for  the  necessary  transportation  of 
army  stores  under  his  charge.  On  July  29th  General  Parsons  wrote 
to  General  Wolcott:  "In  arranging  our  line  a  number  of  ensigns 
are  vacant.  If  your  son  is  willing  to  accept  one  of  these  vacancies, 
I  shall  be  happy  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  gratify  the  inclination  of 
the  son  of  so  worthy  a  father.  I  am  determined  to  have  these  offi- 
ces filled  by  young  gentlemen  of  spirit  and  learning,  to  make  the 
army  respectable,  or  leave  them  vacant."  He  declined  the  offer 
as  he  was  desirous  of  continuing  his  legal  studies. 

In  1781  Wolcott  left  his  home  in  Litchfield  with  three  dollars 
in  his  pocket,  and  went  to  Hartford,  where  he  soon  afterward 
accepted  a  clerkship  in  the  office  of  the  commissioner  of  the  pay 
table.  The  salary  connected  with  this  position  was  fifty  cents  per 
day  specie  value.  During  the  year  he  received  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  from  Yale  College,  his  thesis  being,  "An  Agricultura 
in  Republica  Americana  sit  magis  colenda  quam  commercium." 
His  great  diligence  in  discharging  the  duties  of  the  office  led  the 
General  Assembly  in  1782,  entirely  unsolicited,  to  appoint  Wolcott 

152 


1^  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  pay  table.  As  junior  member  of 
the  commission  he  was  obhged  to  make  frequent  visits  to  the 
Council  of  Safety,  and  receive  directions.  Through  this  agency  he 
became  intimately  acquainted  with  not  only  the  officials  of  the  state, 
but  the  workings  of  the  state  government. 

In  May,  1784,  Wolcott  received  the  appointment  as  commis^ 
sioner  to  adjust  the  claims  for  Connecticut  against  the  United 
States.  His  colleagues  in  the  work  were  two  eminent  men,  Oliver 
Ellsworth  and  William  Samuel  Johnson.  During  the  early  part  of 
1788  the  Board  of  Pay  Table  was  abolished  and  in  its  place  was 
created  the  office  of  Comptroller  of  Public  Accounts.  Wolcott 
was  made  the  first  comptroller  and  held  the  office  until  September, 
1789,  when  the  national  treasury  was  established.  Honors  came 
to  him  rapidly  in  these  days,  for  his  great  ability  was  being  gen- 
erally recognized  by  the  leading  statesmen.  In  1789  he  was 
appointed  auditor  of  the  United  States  Treasury  Department,  and 
comptroller  of  the  treasury  in  the  spring  of  1791.  He  had  been 
previously  offered  the  presidency  of  the  United  States  bank. 

Alexander  Hamilton  resigned  as  secretary  of  the  treasury  in 
1795,  and  in  February  Wolcott  succeeded  him.  He  held  the  office 
through  the  remainder  of  Washington's  administration  and  on  the 
accession  of  President  Adams  in  1797  he  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion. The  president  continued  him  in  office  until  Wolcott 
finally  resigned  November  8,  1800.     Previous  to  this  Wolcott  had 

153. 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

been  subjected  to  slanderous  accusations  by  his  political  opponents, 
and  the  Federalist  officials  were  openly  accused  of  having  burned 
the  treasury  building  in  order  to  cover  up  their  defalcations. 

Wolcott  called  for  an  investigation,  but  a  hostile  committee 
appointed  by  Congress,  failing  to  obtain  the  slightest  evidence,  con- 
tinued the  malicious  stories  with  the  characteristic  venom  of  politi- 
cal antagonists  of  that  day. 

President  Adams  forthwith  appointed  Wolcott,  under  the  pro- 
visions of  the  new  judiciary  act,  judge  of  the  Second  Circuit  of  the 
United  States.  This  district  embraced  the  states  of  Connecticut, 
New  York  and  Vermont,  and  the  United  States  Senate  took  every 
precaution  to  vindicate  Wolcott  by  immediately  confirming  the 
nomination. 

In  1802  the  judiciary  act  was  repealed  and  Wolcott  then 
removed  to  New  York  City,  where  he  became  a  merchant.  He 
was  very  successful,  gathered  a  fortune  in  a  short  time,  and  was  first 
president  of  the  bank  of  North  America. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain, 
Wolcott  retired  to  his  former  home  in  Litchfield,  where  he,  in  com- 
pany with  a  brother,  founded  large  woolen  factories  near  Torring- 
ton.  The  place  where  the  factories  were  located  was  named 
Wolcottville  and  for  a  long  time  was  the  principal  village  of  that 
town.  Torrington  owes  its  growth  to  a  great  degree  to  the  success 
of  these  establishments. 

J54 


'^  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

Friends  urged  Wolcott  in  1816  to  accept  the  nomination  for 
governor.  The  Anti-Federalist,  or  Democratic,  convention  con- 
vened at  New  Haven  in  January,  1816,  and  Oliver  Wolcott  was 
placed  in  nomination  for  governor,  with  Jared  Ingersoll  for  lieuten- 
ant governor.  Opposition  newspapers  now  brought  into  the  cam- 
paign all  the  rancor  which  was  common  in  the  early  part  of  the  last 
century.  He  was  freely  accused  of  arson  to  cover  his  peculations 
in  the  treasury  department,  and  everything  possible  was  done  to 
assail  his  private  character. 

Wolcott  was  defeated  and  Ingersoll  elected.  This  result  had 
been  anticipated  by  his  friends  as  "an  unfortunate  culmination  of 
circumstances."  The  same  ticket  was  nominated  the  following  year 
and  both  Wolcott  and  Ingersoll  were  elected  by  a  two-thirds 
majority  of  the  Assembly. 

In  1817  Wolcott  took  his  seat  as  governor  of  Connecticut,  and 
became  at  once  engaged  in  considering  the  various  issues  so  long 
fought  over  by  his  constituents.  His  administration  was  destined 
to  be  one  of  reform,  and  members  of  the  General  Assembly  of  that 
year  were  elected  on  that  basis.  The  most  important  question  to 
demand  the  attention  of  the  Assembly  was  that  of  calling  a  state 
convention  to  frame  a  new  constitution.  This  had  been  the  bone 
of  contention  between  the   two  parties  for  the  past  twenty  years. 

The  convention  was  called  and  Governor  Wolcott  was  chosen 
president.     He  presided  over  the  sessions  of  the  convention  with 

155 


The       Governors        of       Connecticut 

dignity  and  ability,  and  the  original  draft  of  the  constitution  is  said 
to  have  been  his  work.  The  new  constitution  was  framed  and 
adopted ;  so  that  this  was  probably  the  most  important  act  of  his 
administration.  For  ten  years  Governor  Wolcott  was  continued  in 
office  with  no  decided  opposition.  Hiscareer  as  governor  sustained 
his  great  reputation  for  executive  ability  which  he  had  gained  as  a 
member  of  Washington's  cabinet.  After  retiring  from  the  office  of 
governor,  Wolcott  returned  to  New  York  City,  where  he  lived  with 
his  children  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Governor  Wolcott  devoted  his  fortune  to  fostering  agricultural 
pursuits,  and  developing  the  great  factories  he  had  founded. 
He  also  paid  considerable  attention  to  letters,  and  he  received 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  the  corporations  of  Brown 
University,  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  and  Yale  College. 

He  died  at  his  home  in  New  York,  June  i,  1833,  and  the 
death  of  no  public  man  of  the  period  was  mourned  more  than 
Governor  Wolcott.  From  the  fact  that  he  was  the  last  survivor  of 
Washington's  cabinet,  and  a  conspicuous  figure  that  represented  the 
principles  of  the  founders  of  the  republic,  Wolcott's  death  was- 
looked  upon  as  a  national  loss.  "His  character,"  said  one  who  knew 
Governor  Wolcott  intimately,  "was  strongly  marked,  strong,  inflex- 
ible, and  devoted  to  all  that  duty,  honor  and  patriotism  enjoined ;  he 
was  in  private  life  of  the  utmost  gentleness,  kindness  and  simplicity. 
With  strong  original  powers,  early  developed  by  the  stirring  events 

156 


'The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

of  the  Revolutionary  days,  In  which  he  was  born,  he  had  acquired 
a  habit  of  self-reHance  which  better  fitted  him  for  the  sort  of  poUti- 
cal  co-operation  which  results  from  expediency  rather  than  right." 
Of  his  personal  appearance  the  same  writer  says:  "In  personal 
appearance  Oliver  Wolcott  was  of  the  ordinary  size,  but  as  he 
advanced  in  life  he  inclined  towards  corpulency.  His  head  was 
large  and  countenance  strongly  delineated  and  expressive.  He  pos- 
sessed much  dignity  of  manner;  his  disposition  was  sedate  but 
cheerful,  and  with  some  causticity  of  humor." 

In  his  old  age  Governor  Wolcott  was  honored  as  being  the 
last  of  a  coterie  of  public  men  who  composed  Washington's  official 
family.  It  has  been  said  that  the  departure  of  few  public  men  ever 
occasioned  so  great  public  sorrow  as  the  death  of  Governor  Wolcott, 
"All  felt  alike,"  says  a  writer,  "the  irreparable  loss,  and  they 
could  not  but  feel  that  an  important  link,  in  the  chain  that  united 
the  present  generation  with  the  one  of  the  Father  of  his  Country, 
was  broken." 


157 


TWENTY-FIFTH      GOVERNOR 

of 
CONN     ECTICUT 

was 
GIDEON      TOMLINSON 

The  grandson  of  an  officer  who  took  part  in  the 
capture  of  Ticonderoga,  and  born  in  the  town  of 
Stratford— After  graduation  from  Yale  College  he 
became  a  tutor  and  later  studied  law,  entering 
politics  and  becoming  a  prominent  agitator  in  the 
Constitutional  controversy,  preceding  and  durino- 
the  State  Convention  of  1818,  and  finally  becom- 
ing a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  and 
one  of  the  first  railroad  presidents  in  this  country 


GIDEON 


TOMLINSON 


GIDEON  Tomlinson  was  born  in  the  town  of  Stratford  on 
the  last  day  of  the  year  1780,  and  was  the  grandson  of 
an  officer  who   took  part  in   the  capture  of  Ticonderoga. 
His  father,  Jabez  H.  Tomhnson,  was  a  man  of  importance  in  the 
community  where  he  had  resided  all  his  life. 

After  attending  the  schools  of  his  native  town,  Tomlinson  was 
sent  to  Huntington,  where  Rev.  David  Ely,  D.D.,  prepared  him 
for  college.  Entering  Yale  in  1 798,  he  was  graduated  four  years 
later  in  a  class  which  contained  several  men  who  were  afterwards 
college  presidents,  a  future  governor  of  Connecticut,  Rev.  David 
Dudley  Field,  and  Rev.  Jeremiah  Evarts.  Immediately  after  leav- 
ing college,  Tomlinson  secured  employment  as  a  tutor  to  Alexander 
Upshus  of  Northampton  County,  Virginia,  who  was  afterwards 
secretary  of  the  navy.  While  teaching  he  studied  law,  and  when 
he  returned  to  Connecticut  in  1803,  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
Judge  Chauncey  at  New  Haven, 

Tomlinson  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1807  and  removed  to 
that  portion  of  Fairfield  called  Greenfield  Hill,  made  famous  by 
the  pastoral  labor  of  Dr.  Dwight. 

161 


l'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

He  entered  politics  and  in  May,  1817,  was  elected  by  the 
Toleration  party  as  a  representative  to  the  General  Assembly.  The 
following  October  he  was  chosen  clerk  of  the  House  and  became 
a  prominent  agitator  in  the  all  important  discussion  over  a  new 
constitution. 

In  May,  1818,  Tomlinson  was  again  elected  and  this  time 
chosen  speaker  of  the  House.  The  same  year  he  was  a  delegate  to 
the  state  convention  called  for  the  purpose  of  framing  a  new  consti- 
tution, and  during  the  session  his  voice  was  often  heard  on  the  floor 
of  the  old  State  House  at  Hartford. 

With  Pierpont  Edwards,  the  leading  lawyer  of  the  state, 
Tomlinson  was  appointed  to  represent  Fairfield  County  on  the 
committee  of  twenty-four  to  frame  the  constitution. 

After  two  years' service  in  the  state  legislature  he  was  elected  to 
Congress,  and  was  a  member  of  the  House  from  1819  to  1827. 
While  in  Congress  Tomlinson  had  a  high  reputation  and  was 
often  called  upon  to  preside  in  the  absence  of  the  speaker. 

In  1827,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven  years,  he  was  elected  gov- 
ernor of  Connecticut  by  a  good  majority.  He  continued  in  office 
until  1831,  and  his  record  as  chief  executive  of  the  state  was  an 
honorable  one.  In  March,  1831,  Governor  Tomlinson  resigned 
in  order  to  accept  the  position  of  United  States  Senator,  to  which  he 
was  elected  as  a  successor  to  Calvin  Willey  of  Tolland. 

Serving  one  term  as  senator.  Governor  Tomlinson  maintained 

162 


T'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

at  all  times  a  high  standard  of  statesmanship,  and  attracted  attention 
in  a  body  which  contained  at  the  time  some  very  distinguished  men. 
While  in  the  Senate  Governor  Tomlinson  was  elected  first  presi- 
dent of  the  old  Housatonic  Railroad  Company,  and  for  many 
years  he  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the   Staples   Free   Academy. 

Returning  to  Connecticut  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life 
in  a  quiet  manner  practicing  his  profession.  His  later  years  were 
saddened  by  the  death  of  a  son  of  great  promise.  He  never 
entered  public  life  again  after  his  retirement  from  the  United  States 
Senate. 

Governor  Tomlinson  died  on  October  8,  1854,  aged  seventy- 
four  years. 


163 


TWENTY-SIXTH      GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

zvas 
JOHN         S  .       PETERS 

The  nephew  of  the  originator  of  the  so-called 
Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut  and  born  in  Hebron 
where  from  the  age  of  seven  years  he  worked 
for  neighboring  farmers  and  attended  the  dis- 
trict school  during  winter — While  a  country- 
school  teacher  he  studied  medicine  and  became  a 
successful  old  school  physician,  entering  poli- 
tics and  becoming  chief  executive  of  the  state 


JOHN         S. 


PETERS 


THE  paternal  ancestors  of  Governor  Peters  were  Englishmen 
of  note,  and  the  family  was  distinguished  in  many  ways. 
One  member  of  the  family  was  the  famous  Hugh  Peters, 
who  was  beheaded,  he  having  been  charged  with  complicity  in  the 
King's  death.  An  uncle  of  Governor  Peters,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  A. 
Peters,  a  native  of  Hebron,  was  the  inventor  of  the  famous  so-called 
"blue  laws"  of  Connecticut.  Being  a  strong  sympathizer  with 
the  Royalist  cause  during  the  Revolution,  Dr.  Peters  was  obliged 
to  flee  to  England,  where  he  published  his  unique  "History 
of  Connecticut,"  and,  according  to  John  Fiske,  "took  delight 
in  horrifying  our  British  cousins  with  tales  of  wholesale  tarring  and 
feathering  done  by  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution." 

In  the  minds  of  most  historians  the  doctor's  history  reminds 
one  of  the  late  Baron  Munchausen. 

John  S.  Peters  was  born  in  Hebron  on  September  21,  1772, 
being  the  fifth  child  of  Bemslee  Peters,  a  brother  of  the  Tory  cler- 
gyman. The  family  were  so  poor  that  when  the  future  governor  had 
reached  the  age  of  seven  years  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  work 
for  a  neighboring  farmer.     During  the  next  four  years  he  worked 

167 


l'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

on  the  farm  in  summer  and  attended  the  district  school  during  winter. 

When  eighteen  years  of  age  the  young  man  decided  to  be  a 
school  teacher,  and  accordingly  had  charge  of  a  district  school  in 
Hebron  for  several  years. 

While  he  was  teaching  he  took  up  the  study  of  medicine,  and 
during  the  summer  he  was  twenty  years  of  age  he  studied  with 
Dr.  Benjamin  Peters  of  Marbletown,  New  York.  Succeeding  sum- 
mers were  also  passed  in  the  study  of  his  chosen  profession,  with 
Dr.  Abner  Mosely  of  Glastonbury.  Late  in  the  year  of  1796  Peters 
went  to  Philadelphia  to  complete  his  medical  education.  In  that 
city  he  attended  the  anatomical  lectures  of  Doctors  Shippen  and 
Wistar,  the  chemical  lectures  by  the  famous  Dr.  James  Wood- 
house,  and  the  medical  school  of  Dr.  Rush.  Returning  to  Con- 
necticut in  1797,  Dr.  Peters  looked  around  for  a  place  to  settle  and 
commence  practice. 

He  went  up  the  Connecticut  river  as  far  as  Canada  without 
finding  a  town  in  need  of  a  medical  practitioner.  He  returned  to 
his  home  thoroughly  disheartened,  and  exclaimed  in  a  moment  of 
abject  despair  that  he  had  spent  twenty-four  years  of  his  life  and  all 
his  money  without  avail.  Settling  in  Hebron  for  want  of  a  more 
promising  place,  he  was  agreeably  surprised  by  finding  his  services 
in  demand  within  a  short  space  of  time.  His  ability  was  recog- 
nized from  the  first,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  had  all  the 
business  he  could  attend  to.     Dr.  Peters  was  a  prominent  member 

168 


^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

of  the  Tolland  County  Medical  Society,  and  in  1804  was  chosen  a 
fellow  of  the  State  Medical  Society.  He  was  widely  known  as  a 
skilful  practitioner  of  uncommon  ability. 

Early  in  his  professional  career  Dr.  Peters  remained  true  to 
the  spirit  of  his  ancestors,  and  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  political 
questions  of  the  day.  The  citizens  of  Hebron  showed  their  confi- 
dence in  him  in  various  ways,  he  seldom  being  defeated  for  an  ofRce. 

For  twenty  years  Dr.  Peters  was  town  clerk  of  Hebron ;  he 
was  also  judge  of  probate  for  the  district  for  many  years,  and 
represented  the  town  in  the  House  of  Representatives  several 
sessions. 

After  serving  in  the  state  Senate  for  a  number  of  years  he  was 
elected  lieutenant  governor  and  held  the  office  from  1827  to  1831. 
When  Governor  Tomlinson  resigned  in  1831  Dr.  Peters  succeeded 
him  in  office.  His  party  placed  him  in  nomination  at  the  next 
election  and  he  was  elected  governor  by  a  large  majority.  He 
occupied  the  office  with  satisfaction  from  1831  to  1835,  when  he 
retired  from  public  life. 

With  the  exception  of  being  a  presidential  elector,  Governor 
Peters  never  held  office  after  retiring  as  chief  executive  of  the  state. 

He  never  practiced  his  profession  after  becoming  governor,  and 
spent  the  remaining  years  in  taking  advantage  of  the  competency 
he  had  acquired.  Governor  Peters  enjoyed  almost  perfect  health 
all  his  life  until  within  a  short  time  before  his  death,  and  he  enter- 

169 


1'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

tained  quite  extensively  at  his  old-fashioned  residence  in  Hebron. 
He  died  at  his  home  in  Hebron  on  March  30,  1858,  aged  85 
years. 

A  friend  of  Governor  Peters  said  of  him :  "He  was  a  most 
agreeable  companion  and  a  warm  and  true  friend.  His  conver- 
sational powers  were  superior,  and  all  who  have  had  the  pleasure  of 
his  acquaintance  will  long  remember  his  lively  and  keen  wit,  his 
inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdotes  and  stories,  and  his  inimitable 
manner  of  relating  them." 


¥70 


fhe 
TWENTY-SEVENTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONN     ECTICUT 

was 
HENRY  WAGpAMAN  EDWARDS 

The  grandson  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  one  of  the  most 
subtle  reasoners  the  country  has  produced — He  was 
born  in  New  Haven  and  graduated  at  the  College  of 
New  Jersey,  later  studying  law  at  Litchfield  and  ris- 
ing rapidly  in  public  estimation — He  was  elected  to 
Congress,  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  and 
served  for  several  terms  as  governor  of  the  state  dur- 
ing the  era  in  which  New  Haven  and  Hartford  and 
Springfield  were  connected  by  railroad,  thus  provid- 
ing for  the  commercial  development  of  Connecticut 


(^'(fe^^/y  A^ CT'/i^c^'-z^r/^ 


HENRY 


WAGGAMAN 


EDWARDS 


HENRY  Waggaman  Edwards  was  the  grandson  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  one  of  the  most  subtle  reasoners  the  country  has 
produced,  and  the  son  of  Pierrepont  Edwards,  for  many- 
years  the  most  distinguished  member  of  the  Connecticut  bar. 

Pierrepont  Edwards  had  the  most  lucrative  law  practice  in 
the  state,  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  a  man 
of  great  power.  He  died  in  Bridgeport,  April  5,  1826.  His 
son  was  born  in  New  Haven  in  October,  1779,  the  year  that 
General  Tryon  pillaged  the  town  and  spread  desolation. 

Henry  Waggaman  Edwards  prepared  for  college  at  New 
Haven  and  entered  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  at  Princeton, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1797. 

Having  decided  to  adopt  his  father's  profession,  Edwards 
entered  the  famous  Litchfield  Law  School  (now  the  Yale  Law 
School),  and,  after  the  completion  of  the  course,  returned  to  New 
Haven,  where  he  commenced  to  practice.  In  1819  he  was 
elected  as  a  democratic  member  of  Congress  and  represented  the 
district  in  the   House  of  Representatives  until   March  3,    1823. 

173 


T'  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

At  that  time  Governor  Tomlinson  appointed  him  United  States 
senator  to  succeed  the  Hon.  Ehjah  Boardman. 

This  term  lasted  but  a  few  months,  when  he  was  elected  for 
a  full  term.  He  served  in  the  Senate  from  December  i,  1823, 
to  March  4,  1827,  when  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate,  and  was  a  member  of  that  body  from  1827  to  1829.  In 
1830  Edwards  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives from  New  Haven,  and  became  speaker.  His  rise  in  the 
esteem  of  his  party  was  rapid,  and  in  1833  ^^  ^^^  elected 
governor  of  the  state,  holding  the  office  one  year.  The  following 
year  he  was  nominated,  but  defeated  by  Samuel  A.  Foote. 
Governor  Edwards  was  re-elected,  however,  in  1835,  and  served 
for  the  next  three  terms,  retiring  in  1838.  Governor  Edwards' 
administration  was  known  as  the  "railroad  era,"  as  those  years  saw 
the  building  of  the  Hartford  and  New  Haven  railroad,  the 
Hartford  and  Springfield,  the  Housatonic,  and  the  Providence  and 
Stonington.  While  governor,  he  suggested  a  geological  survey  of 
the  state,  which  was  done  in  accordance  with  his  desire. 

Yale  College  conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  upon 
Governor  Edwards  in  1833.  He  had  the  distinction  of  being  the 
first  governor  of  Connecticut  born  in  New  Haven.  Governor 
Edwards  died  at  New  Haven  on  July  22,  1847.  ^  ^^"' 
Pierrepont  Edwards,  was  a  prominent  lawyer,  and  a  judge  of  the 
New  York  Supreme  Court  for  seven  years. 

174  • 


"The 
TWENTY- EIGHTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
SAMUEL       AUGUSTUS       FOOTE 

Born  in  Cheshire,  and  although  of  delicate  health 
entered  Yale  College  at  thirteen  years  of  age 
and  was  graduated  with  honors — He  began  the 
study  of  law  as  an  invalid  wearing  a  bandage 
about  his  head  in  the  class  room,  and,  finally 
driven  out  of  doors,  sailed  to  the  West  Indies 
as  a  supercargo — He  later  settled  on  a  farm  and 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  where 
he    provoked     the    great     Webster-Hay  ne     debate 


$5- 


^k^c^iJ^^ 


SAMUEL 


AUGUSTUS 


F     O     O     T     E 


THE  father  of  Governor  Foote  was  the  Rev.  John  Foote,  a 
native    of    North    Branford,    who    afterward    removed    to 
Cheshire  and  succeeded  the  Rev.  John  Hall  as  pastor  of 
the   Congregational  church   in  that  town.     His  wife  was   grand- 
daughter of  Governor  Jonathan  Law.     After  a  life  of  great  useful- 
ness the  Rev.  John  Foote  died  in  Cheshire,  August  31,  1831. 

His  son,  Samuel  Augustus  Foote,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  born  in  Cheshire  on  November  8,  1780.  As  a  child  he  was 
precocious  to  such  a  degree  that  he  entered  Yale  College  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  years.  Constitutionally  delicate,  in  his  early  years  the 
boy  showed  signs  of  premature  decay ;  but  in  the  face  of  all  this 
he  succeeded  in  completing  his  college  course,  graduating  from 
Yale  in  1797,  before  he  had  reached  the  age  of  seventeen. 

He  then  resided  for  a  few  months  in  Washington,  Connecticut, 
reading  law  in  the  office  of  Daniel  N.  Burnside,  Esq.  Deciding 
upon  law  as  a  profession,  he  entered  the  Litchfield  Law  School  for 
a  course  of  study.  In  his  class  were  Baldwin,  Benedict,  Day, 
Griffin,  Seymour  and  Sill — all  of  whom  became  famous  men. 

177 


T'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

He  remained  at  Judge  Reeve's  school  probably  less  than  a 
year,  for  he  began  to  be  troubled  with  severe  pains  in  his  head, 
which  did  not  yield  to  treatment.  Invariably  the  young  man 
attended  lectures  wearing  a  bandage  about  his  head.  As  the 
trouble  increased  Foote  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  desire  to 
become  a  lawyer,  and  resolved  to  follow  some  business  which 
would  provide  a  more  active  occupation. 

After  leaving  the  law  school  he  went  to  New  Haven  and 
engaged  in  the  shipping  trade,  having  an  office  on  Long  Wharf 
It  is  said  that  he  went  to  the  West  Indies  three  times  in  the 
capacity  of  a  supercargo. 

When  the  war  with  Great  Britain  commenced  in  1812,  Foote, 
as  well  as  many  other  merchants  of  his  class,  saw  his  prosperous 
business  entirely  wiped  out.  He  took  his  losses  in  as  good  humor 
as  possible,  and  decided  to  turn  his  attention  to  agricultural 
pursuits. 

Going  to  Cheshire,  he  settled  on  a  farm  and  became  very 
successful.  This  occupation  gave  him  ample  time  and  opportunity 
to  take  an  active  part  in  the  political  discussion  of  the  day. 

He  entered  into  politics  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  not  long 
before  he  was  known  as  one  of  the  most  zealous  anti-Federalists  of 
the  state.  A  majority  of  the  people  of  Cheshire  shared  his  opinion 
and  sent  him  to  the  Legislature  in  1817  and  1818,  as  their  repre- 
sentative.    While  in  the  House,  Foote  exerted  great  power  and 

178 


•The        Governors        of       Connecticut 

was  easily  its  leading  member.  He  was  next  elected  a  member  of 
Congress  and  represented  his  district  for  two  years  from  March, 
1819.  Returning  to  Connecticut,  he  was  again  elected  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  and  represented  Cheshire  in  the  House  for  two 
years.  In  1823  he  was  re-elected  to  Congress  and  served  until 
May,  1825,  when  he  was  again  chosen  by  the  people  of  Cheshire 
to  represent  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly.  That  body  elected 
him  speaker  and  during  the  same  session  he  was  chosen  United 
States  senator  to  succeed  Henry  W.  Edwards. 

His  term  in  the  Senate  commenced  on  March  4,  1827,  and 
the  latter  portion  of  it  was  made  famous  by  a  debate  over  one  of 
his  resolutions. 

It  was  Senator  Foote  who  introduced  the  resolution  in  Decem- 
ber, 1829,  which  provoked  the  great  debate  between  Senators 
Webster  of  Massachusetts  and  Hayne  of  South  Carolina,  lasting 
the  greater  portion  of  three  days.  This  resolution  was  for  the  pur- 
pose of  "  inquiring  into  the  expediency  of  limiting  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands  to  those  already  in  the  market,  besides  suspending 
the  surveys  of  the  public  lands  and  abolishing  the  office  of  surveyor- 
general." 

On  January  26  and  27,  1830,  Daniel  Webster  delivered  his 
famous  "Reply  to  Hayne,"  which  is  considered  by  John  Fiske  to 
be  the  "greatest  speech  that  has  been  delivered  since  the  oration  of 
Demosthenes  against  the  crown.  " 

179 


'T'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

Foote  was  defeated  by  Nathan  Smith  for  a  second  term  in  the 
Senate,  but  was  elected  a  member  of  the  National  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives in  April,  1833.  In  1834  he  was  nominated  for 
governor  by  the  Whigs  of  this  state,  who  were  opposed  to  the 
administration  of  President  Jackson.  He  obtained  a  plurality  but 
not  a  majority;  so  the  choice  went  to  the  General  Assembly. 
That  body  elected  him  governor,  and  he  resigned  his  seat  in 
Congress. 

He  served  as  chief  magistrate  for  one  year,  during  an  unevent- 
ful period.  Yale  College  conferred  upon  him,  while  governor,  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  The  next  year  Governor  Foote  was 
defeated  by  Henry  W.  Edwards,  and  after  that  he  was  never 
actively  engaged  in  politics. 

His  domestic  and  private  affairs  engrossed  his  attention  the 
remaining  years  of  his  life,  and  he  died  in  Cheshire,  September  15, 
1846.  "That  which  specially  strikes  us,"  says  one  writer,  "as  char- 
acteristic of  Governor  Foote  was  his  integrity,  industry,  decision 
and  perseverence."  His  son,  Andrew  Hull  Foote,  was  a  famous 
naval  officer,  who,  on  June  16,  1862,  received  the  thanks  of  Con- 
gress for  gallant  services  in  the  Civil  War  and  was  made  a  rear- 
admiral. 


180 


i:he 

TWENTY-NINTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
WILLIAM    W.    ELLSWORTH 

A  member  of  the  distinguished  Ellsworth  family 
of  Windsor  and  born  in  that  town — He  was 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  the  class  with 
Morse,  the  inventor  of  telegraphy — He  studied 
law  and  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  Noah 
Webster,  later  becoming  one  of  the  most 
successful  practitioners  in  the  state,  and 
then  a  member  of  the  faculty  at  Trinity 
College,   and  chosen    to    many    political  honors 


>^=^^ 


^^-^♦t 


>i^^C:k^^<.c^.:^^^^!^ 


WILLIAM 


W    O    L    C    O    T    T 


ELLSWORTH 


THE  Ellsworth  family  of  Windsor  was  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished in  Connecticut.  Oliver  Ellsworth,  LL.D.,  was  a 
famous  lawyer  and  statesman,  of  whom  John  Adams  said : 
"  He  was  the  finest  pillar  of  Washington's  whole  administration." 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  a  delegate  to  the 
Federal  Convention  of  1787,  and  in  1796  was  appointed  chief 
justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  He  died  at  Wind- 
sor, November  26,  1807.  His  son,  William  Wolcott  Ellsworth, 
the  twin  brother  of  Henry  Leavitt  Ellsworth,  was  born  at  Wind- 
sor, November  10,  1791,  and  entered  Yale  College  in  1806,  where 
he  graduated  with  honors  in  1810.  Among  his  classmates  at  Yale 
was  Professor  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  the  inventor  of  telegraphy. 

Immediately  after  graduation,  he  entered  the  Litchfield  Law 
School  where  he  pursued  his  legal  studies.  Removing  to  Hart- 
ford, Ellsworth  entered  the  office  of  Judge  Williams,  his  brother- 
in-law,  at  that  time  the  most  prominent  lawyer  at  the  Hartford  bar. 
He  was  a  close  student  and  aimed  from  the  first  to  thoroughly 
master  the  profession. 

183 


I'  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

In  1813  he  was  admitted  to  the  Hartford  bar,  and  during  the 
same  year  became  united  in  marriage  to  Emily,  the  eldest  daughter 
of  Noah  Webster.  It  was  a  period  when  a  young  lawyer  found 
it  hard  to  build  up  a  practice;  yet  in  1817,  four  years  after  being 
admitted  to  the  bar,  when  Judge  Williams  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress, Ellsworth  was  made  his  partner.  The  law  practice  of  Judge 
Williams  was  one  of  the  largest  in  the  state,  yet  he  left  it  under 
the  management  of  his  young  partner,  then  twenty-six  years  of  age. 

He  carried  on  the  business  of  the  firm  with  great  success,  and 
his  fame  as  a  legal  authority  spread  rapidly.  In  1827  Ells- 
worth was  appointed  professor  at  Trinity  College,  and  he  held  the 
position  until  his  death  in  1868. 

Being  the  choice  of  the  Whigs  in  1829,  Ellsworth  was 
elected  a  member  of  Congress  by  a  good  majority  and  continued 
in  that  position  until  1833,  when  he  resigned  at  the  close  of  the 
Twenty-third  Congress. 

As  a  member  of  the  judiciary  committee,  while  in  Congress, 
he  was  one  of  the  most  active  in  preparing  measures  to  carry  into 
effect  Jackson's  proclamation  against  the  nullification  of  South 
Carolina.  Ellsworth  was  also  on  a  committee  appointed  to 
investigate  the  affairs  of  the  United  States  Bank  at  Philadelphia. 

Returning  to  Hartford,  he  resumed  his  law  practice  and  soon 
regained  his  extensive  business  of  former  days.  After  considerable 
urging,     Ellsworth     accepted    the     nomination     for    governor  of 


T'  b  e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

Connecticut  and  was  elected  in  1838.  He  continued  in  this  office 
four  years,  and  during  that  period  he  twice  refused  the  offers  of  an 
election  to  the  United  States  Senate. 

Retiring  from  office  in  1842,  Governor  Ellsworth  continued 
active  practice  at  the  bar  until  1847,  when  he  was  chosen  by  the 
General  Assembly  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  also  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors.  He  continued  on  the 
bench  until  compelled  to  resign  in  1861,  because  he  had  reached 
the  age  limit  of  seventy  years. 

Retiring  in  1861,  Governor  Ellsworth  enjoyed  the  next  seven 
years  in  taking  a  much  deserved  rest,  although  he  kept  up  a  lively 
interest  in  public  affairs  to  the  last.  He  was  one  of  the  incorpo- 
rators of  the  American  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and 
president  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Hartford  Retreat  for  the 
Insane. 

Governor  Ellsworth  always  maintained  a  great  interest  in 
church  work  and  was  a  deacon  in  a  Hartford  church  for  forty-seven 
years.  The  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  Hartford,  where  he 
died  on  January  15,  1868.  At  his  funeral  the  Rev.  George 
A.  Gould  delivered  an  oration,  and  among  other  things  said: 
"  Whether  an  advocate  at  the  bar,  or  sitting  on  the  bench  of  justice, 
or  occupying  the  gubernatorial  chair  of  the  state,  or  serving  his 
countrymen  in  the  highest  council  of  the  nation,  he  never  forgot 
that,  first  of  all,  he  was  a  Christian."     Another  writer  has  said: 

185 


The        Governors        of       C  o   n    n   e   c   t  i.    c   v   t 

"  William  Wolcott  Ellsworth  was  a  Puritan  of  the  very  best  stock, 
and  his  honesty  in  everything  was  above  reproach.  In  him  were 
hereditary  qualities  of  great  mental  and  moral  worth.  Much  like 
his  father,  the  chief  justice,  he  was  remarkable  for  his  simplicity  of 
tastes  and  habits.  He  was  dignified  in  manner;  in  person  tall  and 
graceful.  In  all  things  he  was  an  admirable  representative  of  New 
England,  a  man  of  old-time  integrity,  sincerity  and  solidity  of 
character." 

Rufus  Choate,  the  great  orator  and  lawyer,  speaking  before  a 
committee  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Assembly,  referred  to 
Governor  Ellsworth  "  as  a  man  of  hereditary  capacity,  purity,  learn- 
ing and  love  of  law."  He  added :  "  If  the  land  of  Shermans, 
Griswolds,  Daggets  and  Williams,  rich  as  she  is  in  learning  and 
virtue,  has  a  sounder  lawyer,  a  more  upright  magistrate,  or  an 
honester  man  in  her  public  service,  I  know  not  his  name." 

A  writer  in  describing  his  personal  characteristics  said  of  him : 
"He  had  a  fine  personal  presence,  and  as  graceful  bearing  as  any  man 
of  his  time.  He  was  an  excellent  public  speaker,  having  a  pleasing 
voice,  and  his  conversation  was  earnest  and  sincere.  All  his  inter- 
course was  marked  by  kindness  and  integrity  of  nature.  The  crown 
of  his  enduring  character  was  his  Christian  worth  and  conversation." 


i86 


"The 
THIRTIETH       GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
CHAUNCEY    F.   CLEVELAND 

Born  in  Canterbury  and  educated  in  the  dis- 
trict school,  he  studied  law  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  at  the  age  of  twenty  years — He 
became  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  the  state  and  was  elected  to 
many  political  honors,  taking  a  prominent 
part  in  the  famous   Peace  Congress   in    1861 


CHAUNCEY 


FITCH 


CLEVELAND 


GOVERNOR  Cleveland,  according  to  one  writer,  "was 
the  most  popular  man  in  the  county  (Windham),  if  not  in 
the  state;  a  popularity  owing  in  large  measure  to  a  genuine 
good  nature,  which  found  pleasure  in  kindly  greetings  and  the 
interest  he  took  in  the  welfare  of  those  whom  he  knew." 

Chauncey  Fitch  Cleveland  was  born  in  Canterbury,  February 
16,  1799,  and  was  the  son  of  Silas  Cleveland,  for  many  years  a 
prominent  citizen  of  that  town.  He  was  sent  to  the  district  schools 
of  the  town,  where  he  obtained  all  the  education  he  ever  received. 
Choosing  the  law  as  his  profession,  he  commenced  its  study,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  Windham  county  bar  in  1819,  at  the  age  of 
twenty  years.  As  a  young  lawyer,  he  was  unusually  successful. 
He  had  gained  sufficient  prominence  in  1833  to  be  appointed 
state's  attorney  for  his  county,  and  this  office  he  held  for  five 
years. 

During  the  years  1826,  1827,  1829,  1832,  1835,  1836,  1838, 
1847  ^^^  1848,  he  was  a  representative  in  the  General  Assembly 
from  the  town  of  Hampton.     Three  of  those  years — 1832,  1835 


The        Go  v   e   T  n   0   r   s        of       Co   n    n   c   c    t  i  c   u   t 

and  1836 — Cleveland  was  honored  by  being  chosen  speaker  of  the 
House,  a  position  he  upheld  with  dignity  and  ability. 

For  a  number  of  years  Cleveland  had  been  the  acknowl- 
edged leader  of  the  democracy  of  the  state,  and  in  1842  the  party 
managers  decided  to  place  him  in  nomination  for  governor. 

He  was  elected  by  a  good  majority  and  his  term  of  office  was 
so  successful  that  he  was  renominated  and  elected  for  the  second 
time.  Retiring  from  the  gubernatorial  chair  in  1844,  Governor 
Cleveland  returned  to  his  legal  practice,  but  did  not  relinquish  his 
interest  in  politics.  In  1849  ^^  ^^^  elected  to  represent  his  district 
in  Congress,  which  he  did  for  the  next  four  years  with  ability  and 
distinction. 

Governor  Cleveland  was  a  man  of  strong  character.  This  was 
abundantly  demonstrated  in  i860,  when,  after  being  a  strong 
Democrat  for  sixty  years,  and  realizing  there  was  danger  of  the 
government  being  disrupted,  he  openly  declared  himself  an  unflinch- 
ing supporter  of  the  Union.  Deliberately  severing  party  ties, 
Governor  Cleveland  did  everything  in  his  power  to  support  the 
government,  worked  for  Lincoln's  election,  and  was  a  presidential 
elector  on  the  Republican  ticket.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Peace  Congress  in  1861  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  famous  body. 

Governor  Cleveland  was  made  Doctor  of  Laws  by  Trinity 
College,  and  never  entered  public  life  to  any  extent  afterwards,  but 

190 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

practiced  his  profession  in  the  town  of  Hampton,  Throughout  the 
remaining  years  of  his  hfe  he  was  the  recipient  of  many  honors. 
He  died  in  Hampton  on  June  6,  1887. 

The  "Judicial  and  Civil  History  of  Connecticut"  has  this  to 
say  of  Governor  Cleveland:  "It  was  mainly  as  a  public  man  that 
he  was  known  beyond  his  own  county,  and  his  tastes  and  ambitions 
lay  far  more  in  the  direction  of  political  than  of  professional  life. 
He  was  a  man  of  commanding  appearance,  yet  of  gentle  and 
courteous  manners." 

A  son,  John  J.,  gave  promise  of  unusual  ability  when  very 
young.  He  was  graduated  at  Washington  (now  Trinity)  College, 
studied  law,  was  a  clerk  of  the  Federal  Courts  of  the  state,  attained 
prominence  at  the  bar,  but  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years. 

A  nephew  of  Governor  Cleveland,  the  Hon.  Edward  Spicer 
Cleveland,  son  of  the  Hon.  Mason  Cleveland,  was  the  unsuccessful 
democratic  candidate  for  governor  of  Connecticut  in  1886.  He 
was  a  state  senator  several  times,  and  was  one  of  the  first  citizens 
of  the  state. 


191 


'the 
THIRTY-FIRST     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
ROGER   SHERMAN    BALDWIN 

Born  in  New  Haven,  fourth  in  descent  from  a 
Puritan  founder  of  the  town,  and  grandson  of 
Roger  Sherman,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence — He  was  distinguished  for  his 
scholarship  and  graduated  from  Yale  College 
with  high  honors — After  graduation  from  the 
Litchfield  Law  School  he  became  counsel  in  many- 
famous  cases  and  a  colleague  of  Seward,  Webster, 
Clay  and  Calhoun  in  the  United  States  Senate 


-  ^^^wLi>ii*~  ^' 

^ 

"■■■■<■:           '       '■■'     '       ' 

> 

y  ^<^^^^^^c^^t^ 


ROGER 


SHERMAN 


BALDWIN 


ROGER  Sherman  Baldwin,  one  of  the  most  talented  men 
Connecticut  has  ever  produced,  was  born  in  New  Haven 
on  January  4,  1793.  His  father,  Simeon  Baldwin, 
was  third  in  line  of  descent  from  John  Baldwin,  one  of  those  Puri- 
tans whose  names  are  associated  with  Davenport,  Whitfield  and 
Prudden,  the  founders  of  New  Haven,  Milford  and  Guilford.  His 
mother  was  the  daughter  of  Roger  Sherman,  a  signer  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1787,  and  a  United  States  senator.  On  both  sides  he  was 
descended  from  the  very  best  New  England  stock. 

In  his  youth  the  future  governor  was  distinguished  for  his 
accurate  scholarship,  having  read  large  portions  of  Virgil  before 
reaching  the  age  often. 

He  entered  Yale  College  in  1807,  before  he  was  fourteen  years 
of  age,  and  paid  particular  attention  to  rhetoric  and  elocution. 
Graduating  with  high  honors  in  1811,  he  was  chosen  to  deliver  an 
oration,  and  he  selected  for  his  subject,  "  The  Genius  of  a  Free 
Government." 

195 


T^  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

He  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Seth  B.  Staples, 
Esq.,  but  after  a  year  spent  in  this  manner  he  entered  the  Litch- 
field Law  School.  In  that  famous  institution,  where  there  was  at 
the  time  several  young  men  of  superior  ability,  Baldwin  held 
a  high  place,  and  one  of  his  fellow  students,  writing  to  the 
governor  in  after  years,  said:  "I  think  of  you  still  as  the  head  of 
the  Litchfield  Law  School."  Judge  Gould,  one  of  those  who  con- 
ducted the  institution,  wrote  :  "  No  student  from  our  office  ever 
passed  a  better  examination."  Baldwin  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  New  Haven  in  1814,  and  at  that  time  "he  had  developed  a 
mastery  of  the  principles  of  the  law  that  was  considered  very  remark- 
able in  so  young  a  man."  iHis  great  learning,  superior  knowl- 
edge of  the  law,  and  elegant  diction  soon  gained  for  him  the  promi- 
nence he  deserved.  Rising  rapidly  in  the  profession,  he  attained  rare 
distinction  at  the  bar  and  enjoyed  a  large  practice.  He  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  Common  Council  of  New  Haven  in  1826,  and  in 
1829  an  alderman.  In  1837  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate,  where  he  became  an  exponent  of  the  Whig  party,  then 
ascending  into  power.  It  is  said  by  one  writer  that  his  great 
regard  for  the  party  extended  no  further  than  his  regard  for  its 
principles. 

Baldwin  always  had  a   great  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the 
colored  population,  and  one  of  the  earliest  incidents  of  his  life  was 
his  rescuing  a  slave  belonging  to  Henry  Clay. 
196 


T'  b  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

One  of  the  most  famous  cases  in  which  Baldwin  took  part 
was  in  1839,  when  he  defended  the  "  Amistad  Captives."  The 
Spanish  vessel  "  Amistad "  was  brought  into  New  London  harbor 
in  1839  by  a  revenue  cutter,  having  been  found  drifting  along  the 
coast  of  Long  Island,  in  the  possession  of  a  number  of  Africans. 
A  Spaniard  on  shipboard  said  that  he  with  a  companion  had  under- 
taken to  transport  a  cargo  of  slaves,  recently  imported  from  Africa, 
from  one  Cuban  harbor  to  another.  In  the  dead  of  night,  he  said, 
the  slaves  rose  in  mutiny,  slaughtered  his  comrade,  and  spared  his 
life  in  order  that  he  might  navigate  the  boat.  The  slaves  were 
taken  ashore  and  cared  for,  but  the  Spanish  minister  immediately 
made  a  demand  upon  our  government  for  restoration  of  the  ship  and 
cargo. 

The  first  court  of  inquiry  by  the  Federal  authorities  was  held 
on  the  "Amistad  "  in  New  London  harbor.  Later  the  negroes  were 
taken  to  New  Haven  and  up  the  canal  to  Farmington  and  then  to 
Hartford. 

President  Van  Buren  hastened  to  comply  with  the  request  and 
the  case  was  brought  to  trial  at  once.  Baldwin  became  strongly 
interested  in  the  case  and  became  counsel  for  the  negroes.  He 
carried  it  through  the  district  and  circuit  courts  of  Connecticut, 
against  great  odds,  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
In  that  court  Baldwin  had  associated  with  him  the  venerable 
ex-President  John  Quincy  Adams. 

197 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       C  o   n   n   e  c   t  >   c   u   t 

The  former's  plea  for  the  captives  before  that  body  was  so  pro- 
found that  it  led  Chancellor  Kent  to  rate  Baldwin  "  with  the  lead- 
ing jurists  of  the  day."  He  had  the  great  satisfaction  of  securing  a 
verdict  for  the  negroes,  and  they  were  returned  to  their  native  land. 

In  1844  Baldwin  was  elected  governor  of  Connecticut,  and 
again  in  1845,  serving  as  chief  magistrate  with  great  distinction. 

Governor  Baldwin  was  appointed  United  States  senator  in  1847 
to  fill  the  unexpired  term  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Jabez  W, 
Huntington  of  Norwich.  After  taking  his  seat  in  that  body 
Baldwin  became  generally  recognized  as  one  of  its  leading  members. 
At  the  time  there  were  in  the  Senate  some  of  the  ablest  men  who 
ever  sat  within  its  walls.  Among  them  were  Webster,  Seward, 
Clay,  Benton  and  Calhoun.  He  ranged  himself  beside  Seward  and 
Chase  in  the  arguments  over  the  annexation  of  Texas.  It  is  said 
that  Governor  Baldwin's  speech  against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
was  generally  conceded  to  be  the  ablest  argument  in  opposition  to 
the  measure  delivered  in  the  Senate. 

In  the  annals  of  the  Senate,  Baldwin's  reply  to  Senator 
Mason  of  Virginia,  who  had  cast  some  aspersions  on  the  policy  of 
Connecticut,  "is  memorable  not  less  for  its  admirable  spirit  than  for 
its  use  of  his  extensive  historical  knowledge  as  a  superior  specimen 
of  parliamentary  retort." 

The  Democratic  party  was  in  power  in  1851,  when  his  term 
expired,  and  he  was  not  re-elected  to  the  Senate.     Returning  to 

198 


T!  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

his  law  practice  in  New  Haven,  his  services  were  in  great  demand, 
especially  in  the  United  States  courts. 

Governor  Baldwin  was  strongly  urged  to  accept  a  position  on  the 
bench  and  a  seat  in  Congress,  but  he  refused  both,  choosing  rather 
to  practice  the  profession  in  which  he  had  become  so  prominent. 
Governor  Baldwin  was  a  supporter  of  President  Lincoln,  and  one  of 
the  five  members  of  the  Peace  Congress,  appointed  by  Governor 
Buckingham  in  1861.  This  was  about  the  last  public  service  Bald- 
win performed,  for  early  in  1863  he  began  to  suffer  with  a  nervous 
disorder  which  caused  his  death  on  February  19th  of  that  year. 

At  his  funeral  an  eloquent  address  was  delivered  by  his  pastor, 
Rev.  Samuel  W.  S.  Dutton,  D.  D.,  which  has  been  published.  A 
writer  in  the  "Judicial  and  Civil  History  of  Connecticut"  pays  this 
lofty  tribute  to  Governor  Baldwin :  "  Probably  no  lawyer  ever 
attained  in  Connecticut  a  higher  rank  at  the  bar  than  that  which  was 
generally  conceded  to  Governor  Baldwin  by  his  professional  breth- 
ren. He  possessed  every  one  of  the  characteristics  and  faculties 
of  a  great  lawyer.  In  any  forum  Governor  Baldwin  would  have 
been  regarded,  not  merely  as  a  skillful  practitioner,  but  as  a  man 
entitled  to  rank  among  the  great  lawyers  of  his  day.  He  possessed 
a  comprehensive  and  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  science  of  his 
profession.  He  understood  it  in  its  great  doctrines  and  in  its 
details.  In  guarding  the  interest  of  his  clients  his  watchfulness  was 
incessant.    No  circumstance  which  might  affect  those  interests  favor- 

199 


T'  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

ably  or  unfavorably,  escaped  his  notice  or  failed  to  receive  his  full 
attention.  His  discourse,  whether  addressed  to  the  court  or  jury, 
was  marked  by  uniform  purity  and  transparency  of  style.  His 
English  was  superb.  He  was  always  able  to  say  without  embar- 
rassment or  hesitation  precisely  what  he  wished  to  say,  guarding 
with  proper  qualifications,  exceptions  and  limitations,  when 
necessary,  every  sentence  and  phrase,  so  that  his  idea,  when 
expressed,  stood  forth  sharply  defined,  exactly  in  the  form  in  which 
he  wished  it  to  appear." 

In  an  address  delivered  by  the  Hon.  Henry  B.  Harrison  of 
New  Haven,  he  referred  to  Governor  Baldwin  in  the  following 
language :  "It  has  been  well  said  that  Governor  Baldwin  was  a 
great  lawyer.  He  was  an  upright,  a  just,  a  conscientious,  an  honor- 
able man.  Governor  Baldwin  was  a  true  son  of  Connecticut.  His 
memory  deserves  all  honors  from  Connecticut,  and  from  every  one 
of  her  children." 

Governor  Baldwin's  son,  Simeon  Eben  Baldwin,  born  in  1840, 
is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  Connecticut,  and  of  the 
United  States.  He  has  been  a  prominent  railroad  attorney,  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Bar  Association,  and  Harvard  has  made  him 
a  Doctor  of  Laws.  He  is  now  serving  his  second  term  as  an 
associate  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors,  and  is  a  historical 
writer  of  extensive  knowledge  and  great  power. 


The 
THIRTY-SECOND     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
ISAAC  TOUCEY 

Born  in  Newtown, he  attended  the  public  school  and 
studied  in  a  lawyer's  ofl&ce — Without  a  college 
or  professional  school  education  he  became  a  dis- 
tinguished member  of  the  bar  and  was  appointed 
by  President  Polk  as  attorney-general  of  the 
United  States,  also  serving  as  acting  secretary  of 
state — He  was  a  member  of  the  cabinet  of  Presi- 
dent Buchanan,  as  secretary  of  the  navy,  and 
the  recipient    of    many    other    political     trusts 


Hi' 
I 

I 
r 


r 


ISAAC 


T     O     U     C     E     Y 


ISAAC  Toucey  was  born  in  Newtown  on  November  5,  1 796,  and 
was  a  descendant  of  Rev,  Thomas  Toucey,  the  first  Congre- 
gational minister  of  the  town.    He  received  a  good  education, 
but  never  attended  college,  as  he  commenced  studying  law  with  the 
Hon.  Asa  Chapman  of  Newtown,  who  was  afterwards  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Errors. 

In  1818,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  years,  Toucey  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  Hartford,  and  began  practice  in  that  city.  Possessing 
an  unusual  knowledge  of  the  law  for  so  young  a  man  and  being 
untiring  for  his  clients'  interests,  Toucey  soon  gained  prominence 
and  secured  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  Four  years  after  being 
admitted  to  the  bar  he  was  chosen  state's  attorney  for  Hartford 
county,  which  office  he  held  for  the  next  thirteen  years. 

In  1835  Toucey  became  the  choice  of  his  party  for  repre- 
sentative in  Congress,  and  was  elected  to  that  position  during 
the  year.  Toucey  remained  in  Congress  four  years,  retiring  in 
1839,  with  an  honorable  record  of  service.  He  was  elected 
governor  of  Connecticut  in  1846,  and  remained  in  office  one 
year.     At   this  time  Governor  Toucey  was  considered  to  be  one 

203 


T/6^        Governors       of       Connecticut 

of  the   ablest   lawyers  in  Connecticut  and   his   fame    reached  far 
outside  of  the  state. 

President  Polk  appointed  Governor  Toucey  attorney-general 
of  the  United  States,  and  he  served  as  such  from  June  21,  1848, 
to  March  3,  1849.  During  a  portion  of  this  period  Toucey. 
was  acting  secretary  of  state.  After  retiring  from  the  office  of 
attorney-general  Toucey  returned  to  Connecticut  and  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  held  the  office 
during  the  full  term  of  six  years. 

When  James  Buchanan  was  inaugurated  president  on  March 
4,  1847,  Isaac  Toucey  was  named  as  secretary  of  the  navy  to  suc- 
ceed the  Hon.  James  C.  Dobbins  of  North  Carolina.  Commenc- 
ing his  duties  as  the  head  of  the  navy  department  March  6,  iSj'y, 
Toucey  served  throughout  the  administration,  retiring  from  office 
March  3,  1861. 

"Appleton's  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography"  says  of 
Governor  Toucey :  "  He  was  charged  with  favoring  the  course  of 
the  seceding  states  while  secretary  of  the  navy  by  deliberately  send- 
ing some  of  the  best  vessels  of  the  navy  to  distant  seas  to  prevent 
their  being  used  against  the  Confederation.  This  was  denied,  but 
he  was  generally  thought  to  sympathize  with  the  South  and  to  be 
opposed  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war." 

Governor  Toucey  returned  to  this  state  and  resumed  the 
practice    of  his   profession,  to  which   he  was    intensely  devoted. 

204 


l'  b   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 


several  offices  were  offered  to  him  at  this  period ;  among  these  was 
a  place  on  the  bench  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 

Living  at  Hartford  the  remaining  years  of  his  life,  he  was  the 
recipient  of  many  honors  at  the  hands  of  his  fellow  townsmen.  He 
died  on  July  30,  1869,  aged  73  years. 

Of  his  professional  ability  the  "Judicial  and  Civil  History  of 
Connecticut"  says:  "He  justly  ranked  among  the  ablest  lawyers 
in  the  state.  He  was  a  very  accurate  lawyer,  learned  and  exact 
in  pleading,  and  clear  and  orderly  in  the  presentation  of  his  case." 

The  same  article  continues,  in  referring  to  his  personal  char- 
acteristics :  "  He  was  tall  in  person,  and  though  of  slender  figure 
he  had  fine  features  and  a  commanding  presence.  He  spoke  slowly, 
but  with  great  precision.  His  diction  was  strong  and  clear,  but 
without  a  particle  of  ornament.  His  private  character  was  without 
a  stain.  He  was  a  consistent  and  devout  member  of  the  Episcopal 
church.  In  his  convictions  he  was  firm,  and  held  to  them  with  a 
strength  and  tenacity  of  will  that  were  never  surpassed.  His  self- 
possession  never  forsook  him,  and  on  all  occasions  he  exhibited  the 
bearing  of  a  high-toned  gentleman." 


205 


The 
THIRTY-THIRD  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

zvas 
CLARK      BISSELL 

The  son  of  a  poor  farmer  in  Lebanon,  he  worked 
for  the  neighboring  farmers  and  devoted 
his  spare  time  to  study — With  a  homespun 
suit  of  clothes,  dyed  with  butternut,  and  made 
by  his  mother  from  the  fleece,  he  entered  Yale 
College  and  worked  his  way  through — After 
graduation  he  taught  school  and  studied  law, 
being  elected  to  the  State  Senate,  then  to  the 
governorship  and  devoting  the  last  years  of  his 
life  to  a  professorship  in  the  Yale  Law  School 


C:P^^^c.^s>i^c-^ 


CLARK 


B     I     S     S     E     L     L 


CLARK  Bissell  was  descended  from  John  Bissell  of  England, 
who  emigrated  to  Plymouth  in  1626  and  afterwards  settled 
in   Windsor.     There    is  a  tradition  that  the   family  were 
Huguenots  who  fled  from  France  about  the  time  of  the  massacres  of 
St.  Bartholomew  in  1572,  and  established  their  residence  in  Somer- 
setshire, England. 

Born  in  Lebanon,  September  7,  1782,  Clark  Bissell  was  the 
son  of  a  very  poor  man  who  found  it  hard  to  make  both  ends 
meet.  As  a  boy  Bissell  had  no  more  advantages  for  learning  than 
was  furnished  by  the  district  schools  of  one  hundred  years  ago. 
He  worked  hard  for  the  farmers  in  the  neighborhood,  and  what 
little  money  he  earned  was  used  to  help  support  the  family.  Dur- 
ing the  intervals  when  he  could  spare  the  time,  the  boy  was  devoted 
to  study.  His  young  companions  would  always  find  him  poring 
over  the  pages  of  his  Latin  or  Greek  grammar,  when  he  had  an 
opportunity.  Later  a  clergyman  of  the  town  offered  to  prepare 
him  for  college.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  1802,  and  it  is  said 
that  the  day  he  left  Lebanon  for  New  Haven,  Bissell  had  only  the 
blessings  of  his  parents  and  a  homespun  suit  of  clothes,  dyed  with 

209 


l!  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

butternut,  and  made  from  the  fleece  by  his  mother's  hands,  to  take 
with  him.  He  supported  himself  while  in  college  by  teaching  in 
the  schools  of  New  Haven. 

It  is  doubtful  if  a  poorer  young  man  ever  pursued  the  course 
at  Yale.  He  had  for  classmates  such  men  as  T.  H.  Gallaudet, 
Jabez  W.  Huntington,  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Dr.  William  Tully. 

Bissell  was  graduated  in  1806  and  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year  he  taught  in  a  private  family  in  Maryland.  Returning  to 
Connecticut,  Bissell  taught  school  for  a  year  at  Saugatuck  (now 
Westport),  at  the  same  time  studying  law  with  the  Hon.  S.  B. 
Sherwood.  When  he  had  succeeded  in  paying  up  the  debt  of 
$400  he  incurred  during  his  college  course,  he  went  to  New 
Haven  and  entered  the  law  office  of  the  Hon.  Roger  M.  Sherman. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1809  and  at  once  removed  to 
Norwalk,  where  he  commenced  to  practice  law.  During  his 
early  years  in  Norwalk  Bissell  boarded  in  the  family  of  Dr. 
Jonathan  Knight,  father  of  Professor  Knight  of  Yale  College. 
Concerning  his  advent  into  a  conservative  old  town.  Dr.  Knight 
wrote  to  a  friend :  "Mr.  Bissell,  who  was  lately  licensed  as  an 
attorney,  came  to  town  yesterday  and  lives  with  me.  He  has  the 
character  of  a  reputable  young  man.  R.  M.  Sherman,  Esq.,  with 
whom  he  has  studied,  has  given  him  letters  of  recommendation 
to  the  civil  authorities  of  the  town."  By  unwearied  industry  and 
close  application  to  his  clients'  interests   Bissell   soon  built  up  a 


I"  b   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

good  practice,  and  in  1829  was  elected  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly.  During  the  session  of  1829  he  was  chosen  a  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors.  His  fame 
as  an  able  lawyer  was  widespread,  and  his  career  on  the  bench 
very  successful. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  last  century  the  salaries  paid  judges 
of  the  higher  courts  were  totally  inadequate  to  support  a  growing 
family.  Under  these  conditions  Bissell  resigned  his  position  on 
the  bench  in  1839,  and  took  up  general  practice  again. 

In  1842  and  1843  ^^  ^^^  ^  member  of  the  State  Senate.  At 
this  period  Bissell  was  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  ablest  men 
in  the  state,  and  in  1847  ^^  ^^^  elected  governor  of  Connecticut. 
He  was  re-elected  the  following  year,  and  altogether  served  as 
chief  magistrate  for  two  years.  During  the  latter  part  of  his 
second  term  as  governor,  on  December  29th,  the  first  railroad  train 
passed  from  New  York  to  New  Haven. 

While  governor  of  the  state,  Bissell  was  appointed,  with 
the  future  governor,  Henry  T.  Dutton,  as  Kent  professor  of  law 
in  the  Yale  Law  School.  This  position  he  held  from  1847  ^^ 
1855,  when  ill  health  and  the  infirmities  of  old  age  compelled 
his  resignation. 

In  1850  he  again  represented  the  town  of  Norwalk  in  the 
Legislature,  and  this  was  the  last  public  office  he  held.  The 
remaining    years    of   his    life    were    passed    with    his   family   at 


'T'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

Norwalk,  where  he  died  on  September  15",  1857.  A  daughter 
was  the  wife  of  United  States  Senator  O.  S.  Ferry. 

A  biographer  says  of  Governor  Bissell :  "As  chief  magistrate 
of  the  commonwealth  his  sound  judgment,  his  purity  of  purpose, 
his  unaffected  demeanor,  won  the  confidence  and  respect  of  all 
parties.  As  a  lawyer  he  deserved  the  high  reputation  which  by 
common  consent  was  assigned  him.  Ready  of  speech,  earnest 
and  impressive  in  manner,  clear  in  arrangement,  and  possessed 
withal  of  a  caustic  humor — sometimes  playful,  but  when  directed 
against  fraud  or  falsehood  often  withering — he  had  but  few  equals 
in  forensic  discussion.  He  would  not  knowingly  prosecute  an 
unjust  cause." 

It  has  been  said  that  Governor  Bissell's  lectures  before  the 
senior  class  in  the  Yale  Law  School  were  considered  to  be  of  the 
highest  order  in  that  species  of  intellectual  effort. 

Of  his  personal  traits  a  writer  says :  •'  In  his  social  intercourse 
his  courteous,  unobtrusive  manners,  his  fund  of  anecdote,  his 
genial  humor,  made  him  always  a  very  agreeable  companion." 


THIRTY-FOURTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONN     ECTICUT 

was 
JOSEPH     TRUMBULL 

The  son  of  the  prominent  Trumbull  family  of 
Lebanon,  he  was  graduated  from  Yale  College 
and  later  admitted  to  the  bar — He  came  to  Hart- 
ford where  he  was  identified  with  its  political 
and  financial  interests  as  a  banker,  supporter 
of  several  business  enterprises,  incorporator 
of  charitable  institutions,  legislator,  congress- 
man and  governor — His  name  is  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  affairs  in  Hartford  during  his  period 


<s?^.  ^'^^^t-^^a^w^c-c^^S^ 


JOSEPH 


TRUMBULL 


JOSEPH  Trumbull  was  a  nephew  of  the  first  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  and  was  born  in  Lebanon,  December  7,  1782. 
His  father  was  David  Trumbull,  a  prominent  resident  of 
the  town.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  1797  and  was  graduated 
in  the  class  of  1801.  Immediately  after  graduation  Trumbull 
commenced  the  study  of  law  with  William  T.  Williams  of  Leb- 
anon, and  was  admitted  to  the  Ohio  bar  in  1802,  and  soon  after  in 
W^indham  County. 

The  next  year  Trumbull  removed  to  his  native  state  and 
settled  in  Hartford,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He 
grew  rapidly  in  the  public  estimation  and  in  1832  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  from  the  town  of  Hartford.  He 
was  re-elected  in  1848  and  1851. 

Trumbull  was  selected  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  in  Congress, 
and  he  served  in  that  body  during  the  sessions  of  1834  and  1835. 
He  was  also  a  representative  in  Congress  from  March,  1839,  to 
March,  1843,  ^^^  ^^^  record  was  an  honorable  one.  For  years 
Trumbull  had  been  the  recognized  leader  of  the  Whig  party 
and  was  elected  governor  in  1849.  -^^^  administration  of  one 
year  was  uneventful,  yet  Governor  Trumbull  by  all  his  acts  sus- 
tained the  high  standard  of  his  famous  family. 

215 


T"  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

Besides  tending  to  the  duties  of  his  profession,  Governor 
Trumbull  gave  much  attention  to  various  business  enterprises.  In 
June,  1828,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Hartford  Bank,  and 
remained  in  that  position  until  November,  1839.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  earliest  and  most  zealous  supporters  of  the  Hartford  and 
Providence  railroad.  Governor  Trumbull  was  the  senior  director 
of  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane,  and  also  an  original  incorporator  of 
the  American  School  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and  the  Hartford 
Orphan  Asylum.  His  name  was  intimately  associated  with  the 
growth  of  Hartford.     He  died  at  Hartford  on  August  4,  1861. 

A  biographical  writer  says  of  Governor  Trumbull :  "  During 
his  life  he  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  commu- 
nity where  he  resided,  being  an  active  and  leading  member  of  its 
various  charitable  and  other  institutions." 

His  career  was  summed  up  in  a  newspaper  published  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  as  follows :  "  Connecticut  had  no  better  man, 
one  of  higher  intelligence,  strong  and  comprehensive  views,  and 
capacity  as  a  statesman.  With  the  best  interest  of  Hartford  his 
name  was  identified;  and  in  private  life  his  generosity,  his  social 
virtues,  and  pure  character  made  his  good  repute  among  his 
neighbors  equal  to  his  fame  abroad.  For  so  great  a  man,  and  so 
good,  eulogy  is  not  necessary.  With  the  prosperity  of  Hartford 
his  name  is  intimately  associated." 


216 


THIRTY-FIFTH      GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
THOMAS    HART    SEYMOUR 

Born  in  Hartford,  he  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  its  public  schools  and  at  a  military  insti- 
tute in  Middletown — He  studied  law,  became 
an  editor,  then  a  congressman,  and  led  a  reg- 
iment in  the  Mexican  War,  participating  in 
the  capture  of  the  City  of  Mexico — Returning 
home,  he  was  elected  governor  and  later 
appointed  United  States  minister  to  Russia  by 
President  Pierce — At  a  democratic  national  con- 
vention his  name  was  presented  as  a  candidate 
for  nomination  as  President  of  the  United  States 


c^^^J^^:-^^^^^'.^^^-^,..*^^ 


THOMAS 

HART 

SEYMOUR 


THOMAS  Hart  Seymour  was  descended  from  a  cele- 
brated English  family  who  settled  in  that  country  as 
early  as  the  thirteenth  century.  He  was  born  in  Hartford, 
September  29,  1807,  and  when  very  young  displayed  those  traits 
which  made  him  a  leader  of  men  afterwards.  His  early  education 
was  obtained  in  the  public  schools  of  Hartford,  and  as  he  showed 
a  predilection  for  a  military  life  he  was  sent  to  Captain  Alden 
Partridge's  institute  in  Middletown.  He  pursued  the  course  at 
this  military  school  and  was  graduated  in  1829.  Returning  to 
Hartford,  Seymour  was  chosen  as  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
Light  Guard  of  the  city.  He  then  studied  law  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1833,  but  before  he  gained  much  of  a  practice  his 
love  for  politics  changed  his  course  in  life.  Becoming  editor  of 
"  The  JefFersonian,"  a  leading  democratic  organ,  he  threw  himself 
into  the  political  discussion  of  the  day.  Seymour  possessed  a 
very  attractive  manner  and  a  pleasing  address,  so  that  he  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  men  of  his  time.  He  was  elected  judge  of 
probate  of  the  district,  and  soon  occupied  a  position  in  the  front 
ranks  of  the  Hartford  democracy,  as  their  acknowledged  leader. 

219 


T'  b   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

In  1843  Seymour  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress,  and 
when  his  term  had  expired  he  refused  a  renomination.  He  was 
commissioned  in  March,  1846,  major  of  the  Ninth  or  New  Eng- 
land regiment  of  volunteers  which  took  part  in  the  Mexican  war. 
Going  to  the  front  with  his  regiment,  he  served  with  such  distinc- 
tion that  on  October  13th,  1847,  Major  Seymour  attained  high 
military  honors.  The  capture  of  Melino  opened  the  way  to 
Chapultepec,  the  Gibraltar  of  Mexico,  which  was  the  key  to  the 
City  of  Mexico.  As  it  was  built  on  a  rock  150  feet  high,  impreg- 
nable on  the  north  and  well-nigh  so  on  the  eastern  and  most  of  the 
southern  face,  only  the  western  and  a  portion  of  the  southern  sides 
could  be  scaled.  The  commanders  decided,  after  a  council  of  war, 
that  it  must  be  taken. 

Two  picked  American  detachments,  one  from  the  west  and 
one  from  the  south,  pushed  up  the  rugged  steeps  in  face  of  an 
awful  fire.  The  walls  at  the  base  of  the  castle  fortress  had  to  be 
mounted  by  means  of  ladders.  One  of  these  detachments  was 
commanded  by  Colonel  Ransom,  but  as  that  officer  fell  early  in 
the  assault.  Major  Seymour  led  the  troops,  scaled  the  heights,  and 
with  his  command  was  the  first  to  enter  the  fortress.  The  enemy 
was  driven  back  into  the  city,  and  Seymour  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  regiment.  He  afterwards  took  part  in  the  capture  of 
the  City  of  Mexico,  and  was  present  when  it  was  fully  in  the 
hands  of  General  Scott.    When  the  war  was  over  Seymour  returned 


I'  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

to  Hartford  and  received  the  nomination  for  governor  in  1849,  but 
although  there  were  Democratic  gains  over  the  preceding  year  he 
was  not  elected.  The  followihg  year,  however,  he  was  elected 
governor  of  Connecticut  by  a  large  majority.  Governor  Seymour 
was  re-elected  in  the  years  1851,  1852  and  i85'3,  serving  with  dis- 
tinction.    He  also  served  as  a  presidential  elector  in  iSj"!. 

In  April,  1853,  President  Pierce  appointed  Governor  Sey- 
mour United  States  minister  to  Russia,  and  he  immediately 
resigned  his  position  as  governor. 

He  represented  this  country  at  the  Russian  court  for  four 
years,  and  during  his  residence  there  Governor  Seymour  formed  a 
warm  and  lasting  friendship  for  both  the  Czar  Nicholas  and  his  son. 

From  them  he  received  many  costly  tributes  of  their  regard 
for  him.  After  retiring  from  the  position  in  1857,  Governor  Sey- 
mour spent  a  year  in  traveling  on  the  continent,  returning  to  the 
United  States  in  1858. 

Governor  Seymour  was  bred  as  a  Democrat  and  always 
upheld  the  principles  of  the  party  with  true  JefFersonian  tenacity. 
During  the  dark  days  of  i860  and  1861  he  clung  to  the  policy  of 
the  Democratic  party.  When  the  Southern  states  withdrew  from 
the  Union,  and  the  Civil  War  was  precipitated,  Governor  Sey- 
mour's sympathies  were  with  the  South.  He  was  opposed  to  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  until  its  close,  and  became  leader  of  the 
Connecticut  Peace  Democracy. 


^  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

On  account  of  his  pronounced  opposition  to  the  Union  cause, 
the  Senate  of  this  state,  in  1862,  voted  "  that  the  portrait  of  Gov- 
ernor Seymour,"  with  that  of  Isaac  Toucey,  should  be  removed  from 
the  chamber  till  the  comptroller  should  be  satisfied  of  his  loyalty  to 
the  Federal  government.  These  portraits  were  taken  to  a  place  of 
safe  keeping,  and  it  is  said  that  only  one  man  in  the  city  of  Hart- 
ford knew  where  they  were  secreted. 

In  the  Democratic  party,  however,  Governor  Seymour 
retained  his  old-time  popularity  and  in  1863  he  was  again  nomi- 
nated for  governor.  Those  were  not  the  days  for  Democratic 
successes  in  Connecticut,  and  the  contest  which  followed  has  prob- 
ably not  been  equalled  in  this  state. 

After  a  most  exciting  canvass  Seymour  was  defeated  by 
William  A.  Buckingham  of  Norwich.  At  the  Democratic  National 
Convention,  which  met  in  Chicago  on  August  29,  1864,  Governor 
Seymour  received  thirty-eight  votes  on  the  first  ballot  for  president 
of  the  United  States.  He  passed  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  at 
Hartford,  where  he  died  on  September  3,  1868. 


222 


"The 
THIRTY-SIXTH      GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

CHARLES     HOBBY    POND 

The  son  of  a  sea  captain  at  Milford,  he  was  grad- 
uated from  Yale  College,  became  a  member  of 
the  bar,  and  then  followed  the  sea  for  several 
years,  shipping  as  supercargo  and  finally  as  cap- 
tain— Resuming  his  residence  on  land,  he  became 
identified  with  the  prominent  political  leaders  of 
the  day  and  was  elected  lieutenant  governor  of  the 
state,  advancing  to  the  governorship  to  complete 
an  unexpired  term  and  then  retiring  to  private  life 


^^^A^  c^ 


CHARLES 


HOBBY 


POND 


BORN  in  Milford  on  April  26,  1781,  Charles  Hobby  Pond 
was  the  son  of  Captain  and  Martha  (Miles)  Pond.  As  a 
boy  he  was  of  large  physical  proportion,  possessing  a  mind 
of  a  good  order,  and  gave  every  promise  of  a  useful  career.  He 
decided  to  attend  Yale  College  and  was  prepared  by  his  pastor, 
Reverend  Pinneo,  and  Rev.  Azel  Backus,  afterwards  president  of 
Hamilton  College.  Entering  college  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  Pond 
was  distinguished  among  his  fellows  for  his  unusual  muscular 
strength,  and  an  inexhaustible  vein  of  wit.  He  was  a  good  scholar 
and  while  in  college  became  the  associate  of  several  young  men 
who  later  attained  fame  both  of  a  local  and  a  national  character. 

Graduating  in  1802,  Pond  decided  to  become  a  lawyer,  and 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Hon.  Roger  Minot  Sherman,  of  Fair- 
field, he  prosecuted  his  legal  studies  for  two  years.  He  was  after- 
wards admitted  to  the  bar  in  Fairfield  County,  although  he  never 
practiced.  This  was  probably  due  to  a  sudden  failure  of  health, 
and    a    long   sea    voyage  was  decided  upon    as  being   beneficial. 

A  lengthy  trip  suited  him  so  well  that  he  took  another,  and 
the  result  was  he  followed  the  sea  for  several   years,  shipping   first 

225 


'The        Governors       of       Connecticut 

as  a  supercargo,  then  as  captain.  After  having  regained  his  former 
health  he  took  up  his  residence  on  land  again,  and  in  1819  was 
appointed  a  judge  of  the  court  of  New  Haven  County.  In  1820 
he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the  same  county  and  held  the  office  for 
fifteen  years.  During  the  years  of  1836  and  1837,  Pond 
was  an  associate  judge  of  the  New  Haven  County  Court.  Becom- 
ing prominently  identified  with  the  political  leaders  of  the  day,  he 
was  elected  lieutenant  governor  of  Connecticut  in  1850.  The 
following  year  Pond  was  re-elected  to  the  same  office,  and  as 
Governor  Seymour  resigned  during  the  year  to  become  minister  to 
Russia,  he  succeeded  the  latter  as  governor  of  Connecticut. 

He  held  the  office  nearly  a  year  and  after  his  retirement  never 
entered  public  life  again.  The  remainder  of  his  life  was  spent  in 
retirement,  and  he  died  April  28,  1861,  the  month  that  witnessed 
the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter. 

A  prominent  man  who  knew  Governor  Pond  intimately  said : 
"  He  was  a  man  more  deeply  versed  in  the  political  history  of  the 
country  than  any  other  within  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance.  His 
talents  were  of  the  very  first  order,  and  his  pen — whenever  he 
wielded  it — was  marked  by  the  reflection  of  a  powerful  mind,  and 
the  purest  patriotism.  No  man  was  wiser  in  council — none  more 
devoted  to  the  true  and  lasting  interests  of  his  country.  His  intel- 
lectual strength,  his  genial  and  generous  heart,  his  true  and  steady 
friendship,  and  ready  wit,  made  him  the  favorite  of  every  circle, 
whether  old  or  young." 
226 


"The 
THIRTY-SEVENTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
HENRY         BUTTON 

Born  on  a  farm  in  Watertown,  he  assisted  his  father 
in  supporting  the  family  and  attended  the  vil- 
lage school  at  intervals — At  sixteen  years  of  age 
he  began  a  more  liberal  education  and  taught 
the  district  school,  later  graduating  from  Yale 
College  with  the  highest  honors — Studying  law, 
he  received  an  appointment  as  Kent  professor  at 
Yale,  and  during  the  practice  of  law  in  Bridgeport 
many  political  positions  were  extended  him  and 
for  several  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  judiciary 


//. 


^,^„ji.Cx>^  fo^lZPt^-^^^*-?^^ 


HENRY 


BUTTON 


GOVERNOR  Button  was  a  jurist  who  had  very  few 
equals  in  his  day,  and  his  fame  as  an  able  lawyer  does  not 
diminish  by  time. 

Henry  Button  was  born  in  Watertown,  Litchfield  County,  on 
February  12,  1796,  and  was  a  direct  descendant  from  John  Pun- 
derson,  one  of  the  "  seven  pillars  "  of  the  First  Church  at  New 
Haven.  His  grandfather,  Beacon  Thomas  Button,  was  engaged 
in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  reached  the  rank  of  captain. 

Born  on  a  hilly  country  farm,  where  his  father  had  a  hard 
time  obtaining  a  living,  the  young  man  was  obliged  to  labor  until 
sixteen  years  of  age,  assisting  his  father  to  support  the  family.  He 
attended  a  district  school  at  intervals  during  this  period,  and  early 
in  life  displayed  a  great  yearning  for  reading  and  study.  These 
favorable  propensities  were  encouraged  in  a  degree  by  his  father,  a 
man  of  good  mind ;  yet  it  was  not  thought  possible  for  the  young 
man  to  prosecute  his  studies  outside  of  the  town  where  he  was 
born.  Button  was  finally  induced  to  attempt  the  difficult  task  of 
obtaining  a  liberal  education  without  pecuniary  means,  by  the 
thoughtful  advice  of  a  kinsman.      This   man  was  the  Rev.  Aaron 

229 


T'  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

Dutton,  a  scholar  of  great  ability,  and  the  pastor  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Guilford.  Possessed  with 
superb  intellectual  endowments,  the  country  pastor's  influence  at 
this  period  probably  shaped  the  future  governor's  course  in  life. 
During  the  next  four  years  Dutton  taught  the  village  school, 
studied,  worked  on  the  neighboring  farms,  and  in  this  manner 
prepared  himself  for  admittance  to  Yale  College. 

Entering  Yale  in  1814,  he  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  a 
number  of  intellectual  "giants,"  as  Dr.  Steiner  aptly  remarked. 
Graduating  in  1818  with  the  highest  honors  the  college  could 
bestow,  Dutton  carried  with  him  a  large  debt  incurred  during 
his  course.  He  immediately  commenced  the  study  of  law  with 
Hon.  Roger  M.  Sherman  in  Fairfield.  "  By  him,"  says  his  biog- 
rapher, "  Dutton  was  carried  back  to  the  foundations  of  juris- 
prudence and  taught  to  regard  Coke  upon  Littleton  as  a  text-book, 
and  to  read  Feme  on  Contingent  Remainders  by  way  of  amend- 
ment." While  pursuing  his  studies  he  also  taught  the  village 
academy  for  several  years. 

From  1 82 1  to  1 823  he  was  a  tutor  in  Yale  College,  and  in  the 
latter  year  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Newtown.  As  his 
practice  did  not  yield  him  a  sufficient  income,  Dutton  took  a  number 
of  young  men  who  were  "  on  leave  of  absence"  from  Yale  College 
into  his  family  to  tutor.  He  continued  as  a  lawyer  in  Newtown 
for  fourteen  years,  during  which  time  he  obtained  a  good  practice. 

230 


'T'  b   e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

In  1837  Dutton  removed  to  Bridgeport,  a  larger  field,  and 
commenting  on  his  career  in  that  city  a  writer  says  :  "His  life 
in  the  latter  place  was  one  of  great  professional  activity,  as  will 
be  seen  by  a  reference  to  the  Connecticut  reports.  The  purity  of 
his  private  life,  the  eminence  of  his  legal  acquirements,  and  his 
professional  successes  gave  him  a  deep  hold  on  the  confidence  of 
the  community,  and  he  was,  in  consequence,  made  a  recipient  of 
many  public  offices." 

In  1847  Dutton  received  an  appointment  as  Kent  professor  of 
Law  in  Yale  College.  He  held  the  office  of  state's  attorney  for  Fair- 
field County,  and  was  also  judge  of  the  County  Court  for  one  year. 

Five  times  he  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly;  twice 
each  from  Newtown  and  Bridgeport,  and  once  from  New  Haven. 
He  was  also  for  one  session,  in  1849,  a  member  of  the  State  Senate. 

Dutton  was  now  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  state  and 
retained  in  all  the  important  cases  in  Fairfield  County. 

In  1847  Dutton  was  appointed  with  L.  P.  Waldo  and  F. 
Fellowes  to  revise  the  Connecticut  statutes,  and  in  the  following 
year,  in  collaboration  with  N.  A.  Cowdrey,  he  published  a  Revis- 
ion of  Swift's  Digest. 

According  to  one  eminent  authority,  to  Dutton's  "practical 
sagacity  while  a  member  of  the  Legislature  is  largely  due  that 
fundamental  change  in  our  law  of  evidence  permitting  parties  in 
interest  to  testify." 

231 


1"  h   e        Governors       o  J       Connecticut 

His  father  was  a  true  JefFersonian  Democrat,  and  he  had 
always  been  a  Whig,  while  his  other  relatives  were  members  of  the 
old  Federal  party. 

In  1854  Button  was  nominated  for  governor  of  the  state,  but 
at  the  spring  election  no  choice  was  made,  so  the  matter  went  to 
the  General  Assembly.  Button  was  promptly  elected  governor  and 
served  for  one  year.     His  administration  was  one  of  importance. 

Retiring  from  the  chief  magistracy  in  1855,  Governor  Button 
resumed  his  law  practice.  He  was  chairman  of  a  new  commission 
to  make  a  revision  of  the  statutes,  and  "  advocated  the  law  allowing 
the  prisoner's  counsel  the  right  of  a  closing  argument  before  the 
jury;  introduced  in  the  Legislature  the  bill  giving  the  superior 
court  sole  jurisdiction  in  divorce  cases,  and  aided  in  the  passage  of 
bills  to  secure  more  effectually  the  rights  of  married  women." 

When  Judge  Ellsworth  retired  from  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Errors  in  1861,  Governor  Button  was  appointed  to  suc- 
ceed him.  This  distinguished  position  he  filled  with  great  ability 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  seventy,  when  he  resigned,  and  devoted 
the  remaining  years  of  his  life  to  his  work  in  the  Yale  Law  School. 
He  also  engaged  in  general  practice  to  a  limited  extent  until  a 
short  time  before  his  death,  which  occurred  at  his  home  in  New 
Haven  on  April  28,  1869. 

Governor  Button's  professional  ability  is  summed  up  in  an 
able  manner  in  "  The  Judicial  and  Civil  History  of  Connecticut," 

232 


The        Governors       of       Connecticut 

as  follows:  "As  an  advocate  he  possessed  great  power,  not  only 
in  presenting  questions  of  fact  to  the  jury,  but  also  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  purely  legal  questions  before  the  court.  His  mind  was 
eminently  a  practical  one.  Trained  by  a  large  and  varied  experi- 
ence in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  it  discarded  many  theories,  and 
yet  was  ready  to  accept  any  innovations  upon  established  usage 
that  approved  themselves  to  his  common  sense." 


^11 


"The 
THIRTY-EIGHTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
WILLIAM      THOMAS     MINOR 

Born  in  Stamford,  he  was  graduated  from 
Yale  College  and  studied  law  in  his  fath<:r's 
ofiSce — Through  a  legal  career  he  entered  politics 
and  became  the  choice  of  the  Know-Nothing 
party  for  the  governorship— During  the  Civil 
War  days  he  was  an  outspoken  adherent  of  the 
Union  cause  and  was  appointed  by  President 
Lincoln  as  consul-general  to  Havana,  Cuba, 
where     he    gained    distinction    as    a    diplomat 


WILLIAM 


THOMAS 


MINOR 


WILLIAM  Thomas  Minor,  one  of  the  prominent  lawyers 
of  his  time,  was  born  in  Stamford  on  October  3,  1815. 
He  was  the  son  of  Judge  Simeon  H.  Minor,  descendant 
of  Thomas  Minor,  of  Pequot,  Stonington,  1646,  a  leading  practi- 
tioner for  many  years  in  Fairfield  County. 

Minor  entered  Yale  College  in  1830  at  the  age  of  fifteen  and 
was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1834.  Returning  to  Stamford,  he 
taught  school  for  several  years  in  an  institution  which  he  conducted, 
at  the  same  time  pursuing  the  study  of  law  in  his  father's  ofBce. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Fairfield  County  in  1841  and  com- 
menced his  professional  career  at  once  in  his  native  town. 

Becoming  prominent  as  a  lawyer  and  citizen,  he  was 
repeatedly  honored  by  being  elected  to  various  offices.  He  was 
chosen  judge  of  probate  for  the  district  in  1847,  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^ 
office,  with  the  exception  of  two  years,  until  1854.  Minor  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  from  Stamford,  1841, 
1842,  1843,  1844,  1846,  1847,  1852,  seven  times,  and  in 
1854    was    chosen    from    the    twelfth    district   as   a   state    senator. 

237 


l!  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

During  the  session  of  the  Legislature  he  was  elected  judge  of  the 
Fairfield  County  Court.  He  held  this  position  only  a  short  time, 
for  in  1855  Minor  was  the  choice  of  the  Know-Nothing  party  for 
governor,  and  was  nominated  for  the  office.  The  election  which 
followed  was  so  close  that  the  contest  went  to  the  General. 
Assembly  for  settlement.  That  body  elected  Minor  governor 
of  the  state,  and  he  was  re-elected  the  following  year  by  the  people. 
His  administration  was  very  satisfactory,  and  Governor  Minor 
proved  to  be  a  popular  chief  magistrate. 

He  continued  his  law  practice  after  retiring  from  office,  and 
his  great  interest  in  it  was  not  abated.  As  the  clouds  of  the  Civil 
War  gathered  Governor  Minor  was  an  outspoken  adherent  of  the 
Federal  cause,  and  by  his  timely  assistance  and  influence  rendered 
valuable  service  to  the  state  and  the  nation.  He  helped  the  author- 
ities in  raising  troops,  equipping  them,  and  transporting  them 
to  the  seat  of  war. 

Governor  Minor  was  a  warm  supporter  of  Governor  Bucking- 
ham, and  in  him  the  famous  "war  governor"  found  a  wise 
counsellor,  a  true  friend  to  the  cause  for  which  they  were  strug- 
gling, and  a  statesman  of  sterling  ability. 

In  1864  he  was  a  delegate  from  Connecticut  to  the  Repub- 
lican National  Convention  at  Baltimore,  and  in  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  consul-general  to 
Havana,  Cuba.     While  occupying  this  position  Governor  Minor 

238 


^  b   e        Governors        of.    Connecticut 

gained  national  distinction  by  a  shrewd  piece  of  diplomatic  work. 
By  superior  tact  and  dogged  determination,  Minor  induced 
the  captain-general  of  Cuba  not  only  to  detain  but  to  ultimately 
deliver  to  the  United  States  government  the  capable  rebel  ram 
"Stonewall  Jackson."  This  act  was  commended  on  every  side  and 
brought  Minor  much  fame  as  a  diplomat.  When  Andrew 
Johnson  became  president,  Governor  Minor  resigned  his  office, 
and  in  May,  1867,  returned  to  Connecticut,  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  law  in  Stamford.  One  year  later  he  was  again  elected 
by  the  General  Assem^bly  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  he 
continued  on  the  bench  until  May,  1873,  when  he  resigned.  Retir- 
ing to  private  life  he  soon  engaged  in  his  profession  again,  with 
the  same  success  as  formerly.  Governor  Minor  was  nominated  for 
Congress  in  March,  1873,  but  was  defeated  by  William  H.  Bar- 
num  of  Salisbury.  He  was  appointed  as  one  of  the  commissioners 
in  1879  to  permanently  settle  the  much  disputed  boundary  line 
between  New  York  and  Connecticut.  Governor  Minor  was  hon- 
ored in  1855  by  Wesleyan  College,  which  institution  conferred 
upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

His  last  days  were  spent  in  Stamford,  where  he  had  the  love 
and  affection  of  his  fellow  townsmen.  Governor  Minor  died  at 
Stamford  on  October  13,  1889,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was 
the  oldest  living  ex-governor  of  the  state. 


239 


^ 


"The 
THIRTY-NINTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
ALEXANDER    HOLLEY 

A  straightforward  business  man  who  believed 
it  his  duty  to  conscientiously  participate  in 
civic  affairs — He  was  born  in  Lakeville,  in 
the  town  of  Salisbury,  and  began  life  in  his 
father's  store,  later  entering  the  field  of  manu- 
factures and  following  an  eminently  success- 
ful business  career — Elected  to  the  governor- 
ship because  of  his  integfrity,  he  conducted  his 
political  duties  on  sound  business  principles 


"The 
THIRTY-NINTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
ALEXANDER    HOLLEY 

A  straightforward  business  man  who  believed 
it  his  duty  to  conscientiously  participate  in 
civic  affairs — He  was  born  in  Lakeville,  in 
the  town  of  Salisbury,  and  began  life  in  his 
father's  store,  later  entering  the  field  of  manu- 
factures and  following  an  eminently  success- 
ful business  career — Elected  to  the  governor- 
ship because  of  his  integrity,  he  conducted  his 
political  duties  on  sound  business  principles 


.M^-ji^y^rtr^^j^ 


ALEXANDER 


HAMILTON 


H    O    L    L    E    Y 


ALEXANDER  Hamilton  Holfey  was  bom  in  the  village  of 
Lakeville,  town  of  Salisbury,  on  August   12,   1804.     His 
name  was  given  in  honor  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  whose 
sudden  and   untimely   death  a  month    before   Holley's  birth  was 
deeply  deplored  by  the  whole  country. 

He  was  the  son  of  John  Milton  and  Sally  (Porter)  Holley, 
residents  of  Salisbury  for  many  years.  His  ancestors  were  men 
endowed  with  an  uncommon  vigor  of  mind,  and  possessed  much 
natural  ability.  The  early  years  of  his  life  were  spent  attending  a 
school  kept  by  Rev,  Orville  Dewey  at  Sheffield,  Massachusetts, 
and  later  he  was  sent  to  a  boarding  school  in  Ellsworth,  Con- 
necticut, conducted  by  Reverend  Parker,  father  of  the  famous 
Judge  Amasa  J.  Parker. 

He  was  prepared  for  Yale  College,  but  on  the  eve  of  his 
entrance  to  that  institution  the  young  man's  health  failed,  which  made 
it  impossible  for  him  to  even  attempt  the  course.  In  consequence 
he  left  school  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  and  entered  his  father's  store, 
where  he  started  his  long  and  eminently  successful  business  career. 

243 


T'  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

He  began  manufacturing  pocket  cutlery  in  1844  ^^  ^^^  native 
town  and  continued  in  business  with  Nathan  W.  Merwin  until 
1854.  During  the  latter  year  a  joint  stock  company  was  organized 
under  name  of  Holley  Manufacturing  Company,  with  Alexander 
Holley  as  president.  He  held  this  position  and  continued  in  the 
business  until  his  death. 

Holley  was  always  a  Whig  in  politics,  and  although  he 
never  sought  office  it  came  to  him  quite  often.  In  1844  he  was  a 
delegate  to  the  national  convention  that  nominated  Henry  Clay 
for  president.  He  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  famous  statesman 
and  enjoyed  the  honor  of  being  the  official  head  of  the  committee 
which  announced  the  nomination  to  Clay. 

Becoming  popular  in  Connecticut  politics  Holley  was  elected 
to  the  first  public  office  of  his  life  in  1854,  when  he  was  chosen 
lieutenant  governor  of  the  state.  The  ability  he  displayed  on  the  day 
of  his  inauguration  at  New  Haven  led  many  to  comment  on  the  fact 
and  congratulate  themselves  on  having  honored  him  with  the  office. 

In  1856  he  was  nominated  for  governor  and  elected.  His 
administration,  although  uneventful,  was  characterized  by  the  able 
manner  in  which  he  prosecuted  the  duties  of  the  office.  Thor- 
oughly informed  on  all  the  current  questions  of  the  day,  Governor 
Holley  conducted  his  political  affairs  on  sound  business  principles. 

Retiring  from  office  in  1857  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  following  year  appointed 
as  the  Connecticut  representative  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of 

244 


l'  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

Cranford's  statue  of  Washington  at  Richmond,  Virginia.  During 
the  year  1862  he  was  traveling  in  Europe  and  in  1866  Governor 
Buckingham  offered  him  the  position  of  commissioner  from  Con- 
necticut to  the  World's  Fair  in  Paris.  Governor  HoUey  did  not 
accept  this  honor  on  account  of  a  recent  bereavement  in  his  family- 
In  1871  Governor  Holley  made  another  long  visit  to  Europe,  visit- 
ing all  places  of  interest  on  the  continent. 

Returning  to  Connecticut,  he  spent  the  remaining  years  of 
his  life  with  his  family  in  Lakeville.  About  the  last  occasion  on 
which  Governor  Holley  made  a  public  appearance  was  at  the 
dedication  of  the  soldiers'  monument  at  New  Haven,  on  May  16, 
1887,  when  he  attended  the  exercises  as  a  guest  of  honor.  In 
September  of  the  same  year  he  became  ill  and  died  on  October  2, 
aged  83  years. 

Governor  Holley  was  pre-eminently  a  business  man  and 
amassed  a  large  fortune,  but  yet  as  governor  of  the  state  he  dis- 
played rare  qualities  which  made  his  political  career  a  great  success. 

There  was  a  straight-forwardness  in  his  nature,  coupled  with 
an  affectionate  ardor  for  those  about  him,  which  made  him  a  great 
favorite  with  the  public.  He  was  strongly  opposed  to  slavery  and 
to  all  parties  that  upheld  the  institution. 

The  friends  of  temperance  found  in  Governor  Holley  a 
strong  supporter,  as  his  dislike  for  the  liquor  traffic  was  exemplified 
in  word  and  deed. 

245 


FORTIETH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
WILLIAM   A.  BUCKINGHAM 

A  Lebanon  boy  who  first  became  a  surveyor 
and  then  worked  on  his  father's  farm — Going 
to  Norwich,  he  entered  his  uncle's  dry  goods 
store,  and  later  became  a  prosperous  merchant 
and  manufacturer — As  a  vigorous  figure  in 
the  slave  days  he  became  a  leader  of  the 
abolitionists,  a  supporter  and  intimate  friend 
of  Lincoln,  and  chief  executive  of  Connecticut 
during  the  Civil  War,  inspiring  the  common- 
wealth to  a  patriotism  that  has  become  histori- 
cal record — During  the  reconstruction  he  was 
a  dominant  force  in  the  United  States  Senate 


(\fMlcciM 


/vvv^ 


WILLIAM 


ALFRED 


BUCKINGHAM 


GOVERNOR  Buckingham  was  one  of  the  "war  governors" 
on  whom  President  Lincoln  leaned  to  a  large  extent  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War,  and,  like  Jonathan  Trumbull  nearly  a 
century  before,  he  had  the  patriotic  love  and  support  of  the  people 
of  this  state.  Although  a  civilian  by  nature  and  early  training,  he 
developed  into  one  of  the  most  distinguished  governors  Connecticut 
ever  had  and  shed  lustre  on  this  commonwealth  during  one  of  its 
darkest  periods. 

Lebanon  is  a  small  old-fashioned  town  on  the  Hartford  and 
Norwich  stage  road,  but  it  has  furnished  five  able  governors  to  the 
state.  In  this  town  on  May  28,  1804,  was  born  William  Alfred 
Buckingham.  His  ancestors  were  among  members  of  Davenport's 
colony  that  settled  New  Haven,  and  his  father,  Deacon  Bucking- 
ham, was  a  native  of  Saybrook,  who  afterwards  removed  to 
Lebanon. 

The  young  man  attended  the  district  schools  in  Lebanon,  and 
later  became  a  student  at  Bacon's  Academy  in  Colchester,  where  he 
prepared  for  the  profession  of  a  land  surveyor.     After  a  brief  trial 

249 


The        Governors        of       Connecticut 

in  this  work  he  returned  to  his  father's  farm  in  Lebanon  and 
remained  for  three  years.  Going  to  Norwich  he  entered  a  dry 
goods  store  conducted  by  his  uncle  in  that  city,  with  a  determina- 
tion to  learn  the  business.  This  seemed  to  suit  him  so  well  that 
in  1826  Buckingham  opened  a  store  of  his  own,  and  began  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  the  fortune  which  was  to  exert  such  a  beneficent 
influence  in  future  years. 

In  1830  he  added  the  manufacturing  of  ingrain  carpets  to  his 
business,  which  also  proved  to  be  a  successful  venture. 

Buckingham  loaned  money  to  a  friend  in  1848  to  engage  in 
the  manufacture  of  rubber  shoes.  This  was  the  starting  point  of 
the  Hayward  Rubber  Company.  The  business  proved  to  be  so 
lucrative  that  Buckingham  gave  up  his  other  business  so  as  to 
devote  his  time  to  this  industry.  For  many  years  he  was  the  man- 
ager and  treasurer  of  the  company,  and  developed  it  into  one  of  the 
largest  concerns  of  the  section.  By  this  time  Buckingham  had 
become  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  city  of  Norwich.  His 
uncommon  ability  was  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  he  amassed  a 
large  fortune  in  the  face  of  several  financial  panics. 

He  was  elected  mayor  of  Norwich  and  served  during  the 
years  1849,  1850,  1856  and  1857. 

Buckingham's  name  was  brought  forward  in  the  spring  of 
1858  —  one  of  the  most  dismal  on  record  —  by  the  Republican 
party  as  a  candidate  for  governor.      He  was  nominated  and  received 

250 


T^  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

a  majority  of  2,449  ^^  ^^  following  election.  The  inauguration 
was  at  New  Haven  on  the  first  Monday  in  May,  and  Governor 
Buckingham  was  to  the  state  at  large,  and  certainly  to  the  nation, 
an  unknown  man.  His  message  to  the  incoming  Legislature 
showed  unmistakable  signs  of  his  great  antagonism  to  the  slave 
power.  The  first  administration  of  Governor  Buckingham  served 
to  popularize  the  man,  so  that  in  1859  ^^  ^^^  re-elected.  He 
was  renominated  in  i860,  and  this  campaign  was  one  of  the  most 
momentous  ever  witnessed  in  this  state.  Thomas  Hart  Seymour, 
the  Democratic  "  war  horse  "  was  nominated  to  run  against  Buck- 
ingham, and  then  ensued  a  contest  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  As 
the  time  for  election  drew  near,  the  result  was  watched  throughout 
the  nation,  for  Connecticut  had  come  to  be  a  famous  battle  ground. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  sent  to  this  state,  and  he  made  six 
speeches  throughout  Connecticut.  Governor  Buckingham  traveled 
with  Lincoln  and  usually  presented  him  to  his  audience.  A  warm 
friendship  sprung  up  between  the  two  men,  similar  to  the  one  that 
existed  between  Trumbull  and  Washington,  and  which  lasted  until 
the  two  were  parted  by  death. 

On  April  2,  i860,  the  election  took  place.  The  result  was 
awaited  with  feverish  anxiety,  and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  Sey- 
mour had  won.  The  large  cities  of  the  state  gave  majorities  to 
Seymour,  while  the  small  cities  went  for  Buckingham,  his  majority 
being  only  541. 

251 


T'  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

Governor  Buckingham  was  re-elected  in  1861  by  over  2,000 
majority,  for  the  commonwealth  had  found  in  him  the  man  they 
wanted  for  a  crisis.  Lincoln's  call  for  troops  was  issued 
April  15,  1861.  The  order  reached  this  state  from  President 
Lincoln  for  a  regiment  to  meet  the  enemy.  As  there  was  hardly  a 
regiment  of  organized  militia  in  Connecticut,  Governor  Bucking- 
ham issued  a  proclamation  the  following  day  calling  for  troops; 
and  although  this  act  was  unauthorized  by  law  he  depended  solely 
upon  the  Legislature  soon  to  convene  to  validate  this  step.  Fifty- 
four  companies  enlisted  instead  ot  ten,  and  when  the  General 
Assembly  met  in  May  it  not  only  ratified  the  action  of  the 
governor  but  promptly  appropriated  $2,000,000  for  military 
expenses.  The  governor  made  a  remark  to  a  friend  that  no  state 
should  send  better  troops  into  the  field,  and  he  went  about  the  task 
in  a  business-like  manner. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  war  he  turned  over  to  the  govern- 
ment 13,576  troops,  including  infantry,  cavalry  and  artillery, 
thoroughly  armed  and  ready  for  service.  In  1862  he  received 
another  good  majority,  and  was  elected  governor  for  the  fifth  time. 
Soon  after  he  issued  a  proclamation  calling  for  more  men,  in 
accordance  with  the  president's  call  for  600,000.  A  portion  of  the 
governor's  patriotic  proclamation  was  as  follows  :  "  By  our  delay 
the  safety  of  our  armies,  even  of  the  nation,  may  be  imperilled.  ,  .  . 
Close   your  manufactories   and  workshops,  turn  aside   from  your 

252 


T'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

farms  and  your  business,  leave  for  a  while  your  families  and  homes, 
meet  face  to  face  the  enemy  of  your  liberties." 

No  wonder  these  words  stirred  the  noblest  emotion  in  every 
freeman's  breast,  and  it  was  but  a  short  time  before  Connecticut's 
quota  was  raised. 

The  election  of  1864  was  quiet  and  again  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  Buckingham  for  another  term.  In  his  message  to  the 
General  Assembly  he  said :  "  Slavery  is  not  dead.  Its  life  is  in 
the  custody  of  its  friends,  and  while  it  shall  remain  there  will  be  no 
peace.  The  events  of  the  past  urge  us  to  adopt  some  measure 
which  shall  terminate  in  favor  of  freedom  that  controversy  which 
must  ever  exist  so  long  as  a  part  of  the  nation  remain  free  and  a 
part  enslaved." 

With  the  advent  of  the  spring  of  1865  came  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  Buckingham  was  elected  for  the  eighth  time  as  governor 
by  a  majority  of  1 1,000. 

Governor  Buckingham  had  accomplished  a  work  during 
these  years  which  would  make  his  name  famous  for  time  to  come. 
Some  idea  of  what  he  did  can  be  realized  when  it  is  stated  that  at 
the  time  of  the  Civil  War  there  were  461,000  people  in  Con- 
necticut, 80,000  of  which  were  voters,  and  50,000  capable  of 
bearing  arms.  The  inhabitants  of  the  old  state,  encouraged  by  the 
patriotic  example  of  their  governor,  strained  their  efforts  to  put 
men   in  the   field.     As   a  result   Connecticut   had  in  the  army,  at 

253 


^  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

various  times,  twenty-eight  regiments  of  well  equipped  infantry, 
two  regiments  and  three  batteries  of  artillery,  and  one  regiment 
and  a  squadron  of  cavalry,  aggregating  nearly  55,000  men.  This 
was  fully  6,000  more  than  the  state's  quota,  and  only  one  or  two 
states  in  the  Union  excelled  this  record. 

Connecticut's  record  in  the  Civil  War  is  one  of  which  her 
sons  will  always  be  proud.  "Although  known  as  the  'war 
governor'  of  Connecticut,"  says  a  biographer,  "he  was  of  kindly 
disposition  and  gentle  manners."  His  interest  in  the  Connecticut 
troops  was  unusual.  Once  when  in  Washington,  Governor  Buck- 
ingham told  a  high  official:  "You  will  see  a  great  many  battles 
and  much  suffering.  Don't  let  any  Connecticut  man  suffer  for 
want  of  anything  that  can  be  done  for  him.  If  it  costs  money, 
draw  on  me  for  it."  This  official  when  told  of  the  victory  of  the 
Federal  troops  at  Gettysburg,  wired  the  news  of  the  victory 
to  Governor  Buckingham.  The  latter  telegraphed  as  quickly 
as  possible  the  answer :  "  Take  good  care  of  the  Connecticut 
men." 

When  his  eighth  term  was  nearly  completed  Buckingham 
declined  to  serve  again  and  for  the  next  two  years  enjoyed  the 
pleasures  of  private  life.  But  he  was  not  long  to  remain  idle,  for 
his  wise  counsels  were  needed  in  other  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment. In  1868  he  was  elected  United  States  senator  from 
Connecticut,  and  he  took  his  seat  on  March   4,   1869.     In   this 

254 


T'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

distinguished  body  he  busied  himself  in  considering  the  great 
questions  of  reconstruction, 

Buckingham  was  chairman  of  the  committee  appointed  by 
the  Senate  to  investigate  the  New  York  custom  house  frauds. 
When  nearing  the  end  of  his  term  he  died,  after  a  brief  illness,  on 
February  5,  1875,  aged  72  years. 

The  funeral  was  held  in  Norwich  and  was  attended  by  some 
of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  nation.  The  "  Norwich 
Bulletin"  paid  this  tribute  to  this  famous  citizen :  "  In  private  life 
Governor  Buckingham  was  characterized  by  great  sweetness  of  dis- 
position and  an  urbane  courtesy  in  his  social  relations  which  won 
the  sincere  regard  of  all  with  whom  he  was  personally  in  contact. 
He  possessed  that  polished  dignity  of  manner  which  we  of  this  day 
characterize  as  the  gentility  of  the  old  school,  and  the  refinement 
of  its  minor  details  was  strongly  marked  in  all  his  habits  of 
life.  .  .  .  He  was  not  a  politician,  neither  was  he  a  great  states- 
man, but  he  was  great  in  his  probity,  patriotism,  and  purity  of  life, 
and  intrusively  he  wielded  a  vast  influence  for  good.  In  public 
and  in  private  life,  like  him  who  was  loved  of  God,  he  walked 
uprightly  before  men.  And  with  a  full  remembrance  of  all  the 
honors  which  had  been  pressed  upon  him,  of  all  the  great  successes 
of  his  life,  no  better  or  truer  epitaph  can  be  produced  over  his 
grave  than  that  which  he  himself  would  have  desired :  'A  man  of 
honor,  and  a  Christian  gentleman,' " 

255 


T"  h   e        Governors        of        C  o   n   7i  e   c   t  i  c   u   t 

Eulogies  were  delivered  in  memory  of  Governor  Buckingham 
on  February  27th  in  the  United  States  Senate.  Among  those  who 
paid  eloquent  tributes  to  his  life  and  character  were  Senators  Ferry 
and  Eaton  of  Connecticut,  Frelinghuysen  of  New  Jersey,  Steven- 
son of  Kentucky,  Wright  of  Iowa,  Bayard  of  Delaware,  Pratt  of 
Indiana,  Thurman  of  Ohio,  and  Morton  of  Indiana. 

Governor  Buckingham  left  liberal  bequests  for  various  religious 
and  educational  purposes.  Among  these  was  $25,000  to  the  Yale 
Divinity  School  at  New  Haven.  When  the  new  Capitol  was 
completed  at  Hartford,  $10,000  was  appropriated  for  a  suitable 
statue  of  Governor  Buckingham.  The  Hon.  Henry  B.  Harrison 
of  New  Haven  was  made  chairman  of  the  commission,  and  $6,000 
was  also  appropriated  for  the  unveiling  ceremonies,  which  took 
place  in  the  Capitol,  June  18,  1884. 

The  statue  is  placed  in  the  western  end  of  the  Capitol; 
represents  the  famous  "war  governor"  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  was 
executed  by  Olin  L.  Warner  of  New  York.  Governor  Waller 
uncovered  the  statue  and  an  address  was  delivered  by  United 
States  Senator  Orville  H.  Piatt. 


256 


'"m 


t'^f 


m^<^' 


The 
FORTY-FIRST    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

JOSEPH  ROSWELL  HAWLEY 

The  son  of  an  anti-slavery  leader,  he  was 
graduated  from  Hamilton  College  and  then 
studied  and  practiced  law,  entering  immedi- 
ately into  the  abolition  movement  and  becom- 
ing one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Republican 
party — He  abandoned  law  to  become  a  journal- 
ist, and  his  newspaper  became  one  of  the  most 
powerful  periodicals  in  the  nation — Responding 
to  the  first  call  for  troops  in  1861,  he  was  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  figures  in  the  Civil  War, 
and  later  as  governor  of  his  state  and  United 
States    senator    passed    a    remarkable  career 


JOSEPH 


R     O     S     W     E     L     L 


H     A     W     L     E     Y 


ONE  of  the  most  distinguished  men  that  Connecticut  has 
contributed  to  the  nation  in  the  last  half  century  is 
General  Joseph  Roswell  Hawley. 
He  was  born  in  Stewartsville,  North  Carolina,  October  31, 
1826,  of  English  and  Scotch  ancestry,  and  his  ancestors  were 
among  the  first  settlers  of  Stratford.  His  father.  Rev.  Francis 
Hawley,  a  native  of  this  state,  was  temporarily  in  North  Carolina 
when  he  married  Mary  McLeod.  Returning  to  Connecticut 
"Father  Hawley,"  as  he  was  called,  became  prominently  identified 
with  the  anti-slavery  leaders,  and  was  one  of  the  best  known  men 
in  Connecticut. 

Joseph  R.  Hawley  attended  the  Hartford  grammar  school, 
and  a  school  in  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  where  the  family  had  moved  in 
1842.  Entering  Hamilton  College  in  1843,  ^^  ^'^^^  graduated 
in  1847,  with  high  honors.  He  then  studied  law  in  Cazenovia, 
and  commenced  practicing  in  1850  at  Hartford,  as  a  partner  of 
the  late  John   Hooker. 

259 


T  h   g       G   0  -c   e   r   n   0   r   s       of       Connecticut 

Entering  at  once  into  the  free-soil  discussion,  he  became 
chairman  of  the  state  committee,  and  did  everything  in  his  power 
to  bring  about  a  union  of  all  those  who  opposed  slavery.  He 
issued  a  call  for  a  meeting  in  his  office  at  Hartford,  February  4, 
1856,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party 
in  this  state. 

During  the  campaign  of  1856,  Hawley  devoted  three  months 
to  speaking  for  John  C.  Freemont.  The  next  year  he  gave  up 
the  practice  of  law  and  commenced  his  long  career  as  a  journalist. 
Forming  a  partnership  with  William  Faxon,  afterwards  assistant 
secretary  of  the  navy,  he  became  editor  of  the  "  Evening  Press," 
the  new  Republican  newspaper. 

Responding  to  the  first  call  for  troops  in  1861,  he  was 
actively  concerned  in  raising  a  regiment,  and  was  the  first  man  to 
volunteer  in  Connecticut.  Going  to  the  front  as  captain  of  Com- 
pany A,  First  Connecticut  Volunteers,  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  and  was  commended  for  his  bravery  by  General  Keyes. 

Hawley  afterwards  assisted  Colonel  Alfred  H.  Terry  in  form- 
ing the  Seventh  Connecticut,  and  was  elected  lieutenant  colonel  of 
the  regiment.  Going  South  the  regiment  was  in  the  Port  Royal 
expedition,  and  engaged  in  the  operation  around  Fort  Pulaski. 
He  now  succeeded  Colonel  Terry  in  the  command  of  the  regi- 
ment and  participated  in  the  battles  of  James  Island  and  Poco- 
taligo.  The  Seventh  went  to  Florida  and  in  April,  1863, 
260 


The        Governors        of       Connecticut 

was  in  the  expedition  against  Charleston.  In  1864  Hawley  com- 
manded a  brigade  at  the  battle  of  Olustee,  Florida,  where  the 
Northern  forces  lost  almost  forty  per  cent  of  their  men. 

Hawley  Vv^as  in  command  of  a  brigade  in  the  Tenth  Army 
corps  in  April,  1864,  and  later  participated  in  the  battles  of  Drewry's 
Bluff,  Deep  Run,  Darbytown  Road,  Bermuda  Hundred  and  Deep 
Bottom.  He  took  an  important  part  in  the  siege  of  Petersburg, 
and  had  command  of  a  division  in  the  battle  of  Newmarket  Road. 

During  the  fall  of  1864  he  was  appointed  a  brigadier  general, 
and  dispatched  to  New  York  in  command  of  a  brigade  of  picked 
men  to  preserve  order  during  the  presidential  election.  In  January, 
1865",  General  Hawley  succeeded  General  Terry  in  the  command 
of  a  division.  Later  General  Hawley  joined  the  Tenth  Army 
corps  as  General  Terry's  chief  of  staff,  and  when  Wilmington  was 
captured  he  was  selected  by  General  Schofield  to  form  a  base  of 
supplies  for  General  Sherman's  army.  Joining  General  Terry 
again  as  chief  of  staff  in  June,  1865,  he  remained  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Virginia  until  June  when  he  returned  to  Connecticut,  and 
was  brevetted  a  major  general. 

He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  on  January  15,  1866, 
after  having  made  a  record  for  himself  of  which  Connecticut  will 
always  be  proud. 

In  the  spring  of  1866  General  Hawley  was  considered  to  be 
the    best    man    to   succeed   Buckingham,  and  was    elected    gov- 

261 


'The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

ernor  of  Connecticut  at  the  following  election.  The  next  year  he 
was  re-nominated,  but  was  defeated  by  James  E.  English  of  New 
Haven. 

He  now  turned  his  attention  to  journalism  again,  and  the 
"  Press  "  was  united  with  the  "  Courant."  General  Hawley  became 
editor,  and  entered  into  the  discussion  of  the  problems  of  recon- 
struction days  with  all  his  might.  He  wielded  an  able  pen  in 
dealing  with  national  and  state  politics  and  was  in  great  demand 
everywhere  as  a  forceful  and  eloquent  speaker. 

In  1868  General  Hawley  was  president  of  the  Republican 
National  Convention.  In  the  convention  of  1872  he  was  secretary 
of  the  committee  on  resolutions,  and  chairman  of  the  same 
committee  in  1876. 

When  Julius  L.  Strong  of  Hartford  died  in  1872,  causing  a 
vacancy  in  Congress,  General  Hawley  was  elected  to  that  position, 
and  then  commenced  his  long  congressional  career.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  43d  Congress,  and  afterwards  of  the  46th. 

General  Hawley  was  made  president  of  the  United  States 
Centennial  Commission  in  1872,  and  remained  at  the  head  until 
the  affairs  of  the  Centennial  were  settled  in  1877. 

He  was  elected  United  States  senator  in  January,  1861, 
and  was  re-elected  in  1887,  1893  ^^^  1899.  While  in  the 
Senate  General  Hawley  was  a  member  of  the  committees  on 
coast  defenses,  railroads,  printing  and  military  affairs.     He  was  also 

262 


T'  h  e        Governors       of      Connecticut 

chairman  of  the  Civil  Service  Committee,  and  was  at  the  head 
of  a  picked  committee  on  warships  and  ordnance. 

General  Hawley  received  fifteen  votes  for  president  in  the 
Republican  National  Convention  of  1884,  the  Connecticut  delega- 
tion voting  for  him  on  every  ballot. 

Hamilton  College  conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  on 
her  distinguished  graduate  in  1875,  and  Yale  followed  with  the 
same  degree  in  1886. 

General  Hawley  for  a  generation  was  one  of  the  foremost  men 
in  this  country  and  his  influence  in  the  United  States  Senate  was  as 
great  as  any  member  of  that  body. 

The  health  of  General  Hawley  began  to  fail  in  the  summer 
of  1902,  but  he  remained  a  senator  until  the  expiration  of  his  term 
in  1905,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Hon.  Morgan  G.  Bulkeley  of 
Hartford.  The  distinguished  statesman  died  March  17,  1905. 
The  morning  after  his  death  his  life  work  was  summed  up  by  the 
"  New  York  Tribune  "  editorially  as  follows  : 

"As  a  politician  General  Hawley  was  distinguished  for  his 
openness  and  independence  of  character.  He  was  a  partisan, 
intense  and  vehement,  but  he  never  sacrificed  his  ideals  of  fairness 
and  manliness  to  the  exigencies  of  politics.  He  was  incapable  of 
chicanery  or  corruption,  and  detested  hypocrisy  and  humbug.  As 
an  orator  he  was  impetuous  and  sometimes  overpassionate.  But 
his  ideals  of  conduct  were  high,  and  his  whole  nature  responded  to 

263 


The        Governors       of       Connecticut 

any  cause  which  fully  enlisted  his  sympathies.  He  was  broad 
minded  and  plain  spoken,  and  his  aid  was  always  given  to  move- 
ments which  sought  to  elevate  political  standards.  In  his  prime 
he  was  a  leader  whose  influence  was  as  wholesome  as  it  was  wide- 
spread. His  death  ends  a  career  which  honored  Connecticut  and 
which  measured  up  to  its  best  and  highest  traditions  in  statesman- 
ship." 

Eulogies  were  pronounced  over  his  body  in  the  hall  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  at  Hartford  by  leading  men  of  the 
commonwealth,  and  an  eloquent  tribute  to  his  career  was  delivered 
by  his  colleague,  Senator  Orville  H.  Piatt,  who  followed  him  into 
the  grave  a  few  weeks  later. 

General  Hawley's  funeral  was  held  in  the  Asylum  Avenue 
Congregational  Church  at  Hartford  on  March  21.  Ex-Governor 
George  P.  McLean  delivered  a  brief  address,  among  others,  which 
portrays  in  a  masterful  manner  the  life  work  of  the  soldier  states- 
man.    He  said: 

"  It  is  a  great  honor  to  be  invited  to  break  the  silence  of  an 
occasion  like  this.  Not  because  the  man  of  whom  I  am  to  speak 
was  at  one  time  a  general  in  a  great  war  and  at  another  time,  and 
for  a  long  time,  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate;  high 
places  shorten  small  men  who  try  to  stand  in  them  and  add  but 
little  to  the  real  stature  of  the  great  ones.  The  honor  to  me  comes 
in  the  fact  that  1  have  been  requested  to  say  a  word — for  I  can 

264 


J"  b   e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

say  but  a  word — about  a  brave,  strong,  honest  man — a  man  in 
whose  soul  burned  night  and  day  the  flame  of  a  Puritan  conscience 
lighting  his  way  to  duty  in  war  and  in  peace;  and  which  he 
followed  willingly  and  triumphantly  from  boyhood  to  the  grave ; 
a  man  who,  even  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  cared 
more  for  his  country  and  his  character  than  he  did  for  his  inven- 
tory :  and  who  in  the  fullness  of  time,  left  to  his  family  and  his 
friends,  to  you  and  to  me,  too,  to  his  state  and  his  nation  a  long 
and  precious  heritage  of  items  that  thieves  cannot  steal  or  rust 
corrupt. 

"  When  in  these  hurrying  days  of  new  things  and  so-called  new 
thought,  the  living  stand  at  the  bier  of  such  a  man,  how  swift,  how 
emphatic  and  startling  is  the  conviction  that,  no  matter  what  the 
generations  of  the  future  may  do  or  discover,  prove  or  disprove, 
believe  or  disbelieve,  as  long  as  the  earth  is  inhabited  by  man,  an 
honest  one  will  be  the  noblest  work  of  the  Infinite.  It  was  Gen- 
eral Hawley's  lot  to  lead  and  serve  his  fellowmen,  but  I  could  not, 
if  1  would,  add  anything  to  the  eloquent  and  faithful  description 
of  that  leadership  and  service  which  you  have  heard,  and  which 
you  will  hear  in  this  house,  and  which  you  will  sincerely  approve. 
I  will  only  say  that  in  his  life  fortune  and  fancy  met  in  almost 
perfect  harmony.  For  him  the  grim  gates  of  circumstance  opened 
upon  congenial  fields  and  remained  open  until  he  had  done,  and 
well,  the  work  he  wanted  to  do.     He   saw  the  Union  saved 

265 


'^  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

and  new  stars  added  to  the  flag  he  loved.  From  the  long,  dark 
stress  of  war  and  death  and  doubt  and  temptation  and  intrigue,  he 
saw  his  country  rise  triumphant,  folding  her  enemies  in  the  mantle 
of  charity  and  unfolding  to  herself  the  white  robe  of  justice  and 
peace.  For  almost  half  a  century  he  walked  hand  in  hand  with 
the  better  genius  of  the  republic,  himself  the  Spirit  of  '76  incar- 
nate, the  type  invincible,  that  loves  and  dares  and  wins  for  the 
millions  yet  to  come.  We  cannot  call  him  back ;  we  can  mourn, 
but  we  cannot  stay  the  loss;  we  may  not  comfort  the  bereft,  but 
we  can  heed  the  lesson,  and  we  can  stop  to-day,  and  turn  our  faces 
from  the  shining  idols  of  profit,  and,  remembering  that  great 
nations  are  made  and,  when  made,  are  perpetuated  by  good  men 
and  not  by  rich  men,  we  can  thank  God  for  giving  this  man  to 
Connecticut  and  the  Union." 


166 


"The 
FORTY-SECOND   GOVERNOR 

of 
CON    N    ECTICUT 

was 
JAMES    EDWARD    ENGLISH 

Born  in  New  Haven,  at  the  age  of  eleven 
years  he  was  "  bound  out"  to  a  farmer — When 
sixteen  years  of  age  he  was  apprenticed  to  a 
builder— Beginning  a  business  career,  he 
became  one  of  the  richest  men  in  the  state 
and  conspicuous  in  public  life,  wholly  through 
his  own  integrity  and  ability — As  congress- 
man, United  States  senator,  and  governor, 
he  became  a  power  in  national  affairs  and  in 
convention  received  ballots  for  the  presidency 


A 


%.  % 


JAMES 


EDWARD 


ENGLISH 


JAMES  Edward  English,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men 
that    New    Haven   ever   produced,  should   be    classed    with 

Roger  Wolcott,  Samuel  Huntington  and  Matthew  Griswold, 
governors  of  Connecticut,  who  were  entirely  self-made.  Probably 
no  resident  of  New  Haven,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Roger 
Sherman  and  ex-Governor  Baldwin,  ever  attained  greater  honors  in 
his  state  and  the  nation  than  did  James  E,  English. 

Every  success  in  his  life  was  the  product  of  his  own  self- 
exertion,  and  his  life  furnishes  a  brilliant  example  to  any  boy  who 
is  born  without  wealth  or  influence  to  help  him  in  his  career. 

The  ancestors  of  Governor  English  were  thrifty  people.  His 
great-grandfather  lost  his  life  during  General  Tryon's  invasion  of 
the  city  on  July  5,  1779,  when  so  many  citizens  were  murdered 
and  others  made  homeless.  His  grandfather  engaged  in  the  West 
India  trade  and  was  captain  of  a  vessel  sailing  out  of  New  Haven. 

The  father  of  Governor  English  was  a  man  of  intelligence, 
and   his    mother    a    member   of  the    Grisv/old    family  v/hich    has 


furnished  two  governors  to  the  commonwealth. 


269 


T'  h  e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

James  E.  English  was  born  at  New  Haven,  on  March  13, 
1812,  and  his  boyhood  was  uneventful.  At  the  age  of  eleven 
years  he  was  "bound  out"  to  a  farmer.  During  the  two  and  a  half 
years  he  spent  on  the  farm  the  boy  only  attended  the  district  school 
for  eight  months,  and  his  father  awakened  to  the  fact  that  his 
son  should  have  more  of  an  opportunity  for  obtaining  an 
education.  Returning  to  his  home  the  young  man  attended 
school  for  the  next  two  years,  and  he  made  rapid  progress  in  his 
studies. 

When  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  future  statesman  was  appren- 
ticed to  Atwater  Treat,  a  prominent  builder  of  New  Haven  to 
learn  the  carpenter  trade.  The  latent  ability  of  the  young  man 
soon  manifested  itself  and  before  he  reached  his  majority  he  had 
become  a  master  builder. 

His  first  work  of  a  public  character  was  in  the  old  Lancas- 
terian  school  in  New  Haven,  built  on  the  site  of  the  present  Hill- 
house  High  School.  The  establishment  of  this  latter  school  was 
one  of  the  philanthropic  acts  of  Governor  English  when  he  had 
reached  years  of  prosperity.  When  twenty-one  years  of  age 
English  went  into  business  for  himself,  and  began  the  erection  of 
various  buildings.  The  historian  of  New  Haven,  Atwater, 
remarks  that  "several  houses  designed  and  erected  by  him  (English), 
in  a  style  more  elaborate  than  was  common  in  New  Haven,  bear 
creditable  testimony  to  his  architectural  taste." 

270 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

English  prospered  in  business  and  made  money  very  rapidly. 
Engaging  in  the  lumber  business  later  on  he  was  so  successful  that 
after  following  it  twenty  years  he  was  able,  with  two  other  gentle- 
men, to  purchase  the  manufacturing  business  of  the  Jerome  Clock 
Company,  After  a  few  years  this  company,  originally  started  in 
Bristol,  became  one  of  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  The 
business  was  afterwards  merged  with  the  New  Haven  Clock  Com- 
pany, During  this  period  he  was  interested  in  various  real  estate 
deals,  banking,  and  other  enterprises,  so  that  by  the  time  English  had 
reached  the  middle  life  he  was  one  of  the  richest  men  in  Connecticut. 

It  is  said  of  him  that  not  a  dollar  of  his  vast  fortune  was 
made  by  speculation,  and  it  was  all  the  product  of  his  uncommon 
business  ability.  His  wonderful  success  in  business  made  him 
conspicuous  in  public  life,  and  the  people  of  his  native  city 
began  to  look  to  him  for  important  trusts. 

In  1848  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  New  Haven  Com- 
mon Council,  and  in  1855  he  served  as  representative  from  the  city 
in  the  General  Assembly. 

He  was   elected  a  state  senator  in    1856,  re-elected  in  1858. 

In  1861  English  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress  as  a 
"war  democrat,"  and  he  served  as  a  representative  four  years. 
During  the  years  of  the  Civil  War  his  course  was  eminently 
honorable.  While  in  Congress  he  voted  with  the  Republicans  on 
all  important  questions  although  a  Democrat  all  his  life. 

271 


^  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

English  supported  the  war  and  the  administration  and  voted 
for  the  aboHtion  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  naval  affairs,  opposed 
the  legal  tender  bill  and  national  banking  system. 

At  the  time  when  almost  every  state  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Republican  party,  English,  solely  on  account  of  his  great  popularity, 
was  nominated  and  elected  by  the  Democrats  in  1867  as  governor. 

He  was  re-elected  in  1868,  and  his  term  in  office  was  very 
satisfactory.  Re-nominated  in  1869  he  was  defeated  at  the 
following  election  by  Marshall  Jewell  of  Hartford. 

Governor  English  was  re-elected  again  in  1870,  and  served 
one  more  year  as  chief  magistrate  of  the  commonwealth. 

In  national  politics  Governor  English  was  also  an  important 
factor.  He  was  a  presidential  elector  at  large  in  the  election  of 
1868,  and  at  the  Democratic  National  Convention  which  met  in 
Tammany  Hall,  New  York,  July  4,  of  the  same  year,  he  received 
nineteen  votes  on  the  fifth  ballot  for  president  of  the  United  States. 

In  1875,  Governor  English  was  appointed  United  States 
senator  by  Governor  Ingersoll  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  the  Hon.  Orris  S.  Ferry.  He  served  in  this  capacity 
until  the  spring  of  1876. 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  did  not  hold  any  public 
office,  but  spent  his  time  in  attending  to  the  various  manufacturing 
and  other  enterprises  in  which  he  was  interested. 

272 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Among  other  things  he  was  president  of  the  New  Haven 
Savings    Bank  and  a  manager  of  the  Adams  Express  Company. 

Governor  English  gave  freely  to  various  worthy  objects,  and 
among  his  many  acts  of  philanthropic  character  may  be  mentioned 
his  gift  of  $10,000  to  the  Yale  Law  School,  and  $20,000  for  the 
improvement  of  East  Rock. 

Governor  English  died  at  his  home  in  New  Haven  on 
March  2,  1890,  aged  seventy-eight  years. 

His  son,  Henry  F.  English,  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
residents  of  New  Haven  and  inherits  the  liberal  spirit  of  his  dis- 
tinguished father.  He  has  presented  a  handsome  building  on 
Grove  Street  to  the  New  Haven  Colony  Historical  Society,  as 
a  memorial  to  his  father  and   mother. 


273 


FORTY- THIRD     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

zvas 

MARSHALL    JEWELL 

The  son  of  a  tanner,  who  became  a  telegraph 
operator  and  electrician,  finally  returning  to 
his  father's  business  which  developed  into  one 
of  the  leading  enterprises  of  the  state— After 
extensive  European  travels  in  the  interests  of 
the  leather  trade,  he  was  elected  to  the  gov- 
ernorship—President Grant  appointed  him 
minister  to  Russia  and  later  postmaster  gen- 
eral— His  retirement  from  public  life  and  his 
return  to  his  old  home  was  the  occasion  of  a 
loyal    demonstration    and    significant    tribute 


MARSHALL 


JEWELL 


ARSHALL  Jewell  was  born  in  Winchester,  New  Hamp- 
shire, October  20,  1825.  His  father  was  a  tanner,  as  was 
also  his  grandfather  and  great-grandfather,  so  at  an  early 
age  he  became  an  apprentice  in  his  father's  tanyard.  After  learn- 
ing the  trade  he  decided  not  to  follow  it  for  a  business,  and  went 
to  Boston  where  he  studied  electricity.  Paying  special  attention 
to  telegraphy  he  afterwards  went  to  Rochester,  where  he  became 
telegraph  operator.  From  that  city  he  went  to  Akron,  Ohio,  where 
he  remained  a  short  time,  and  then  roved  through  several  states. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-three  Jewell  had  charge  of  the  construction 
of  the  telegraph  line  between  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  New 
Orleans. 

In  1849  ^^  ^^^^  offered  and  accepted  the  position  of  general 
superintendent  of  the  New  York  and  Boston  telegraph  lines. 
When  he  came  North  to  commence  his  duties  he  was  called  to 
Hartford  to  engage  with  his  father  in  the  manufacture  of  leather 
belting. 

His  father,  Pliny  Jewell,  a  prominent  Whig  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, had  removed  to  Hartford,  and  established  the  belting  business 

277 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

in  1845.  ^^  ^^^  ^^'^^  become  very  successful,  and  Marshall  Jewell 
was  made  a  partner  in  the  concern  which  was  rapidly  developing 
into  one  of  the  great  enterprises  of  the  state.  He  remained  in 
partnership  with  his  father  until  the  latter's  death.  In  1859  he 
visited  Europe,  and  made  a  special  study  of  the  large  tanneries  in 
England  and  France.  He  went  abroad  in  i860  and  in  1867, 
visiting  Asia  and  Africa.  In  1867  Jewell  attended  the  great 
exposition  at  Paris  where  he  extended  the  business  of  his  company 
to  a  large  extent.  The  great  ability  of  Jewell,  his  public  spirit, 
and  interest  in  public  affairs,  gave  him  prominence  as  a  private 
citizen,  and  his  unwavering  support  of  the  Union  cause  during  the 
dark  days  of  the  Rebellion  drew  special  regard  to  him  as  a  man 
qualified  by  his  energy,  integrity  and  patriotism  for  the  public 
service.  He  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Republican  party 
in  Connecticut.  In  1868  he  was  nominated  for  governor  of  Con- 
necticut, but  was  defeated  by  a  small  majority.  The  next  year  he 
was  elected  governor,  and  served  one  year,  when  he  was  defeated 
again  by  English,  but  in  1871  and  1872  he  was  re-elected.  His 
work  as  governor  is  summed  up  by  a  writer  as  follows : 

"Jewell's  administration  of  the  state  government  was  marked 
by  various  legislative  and  executive  reforms.  Among  these  were 
the  reorganization  of  the  state  militia,  the  laws  of  divorce,  the 
government  of  Yale  College,  biennial  elections,  and  the  erection  of 
the  new  state  house  at  Hartford." 

278 


1'  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 


Retiring  as  governor  in  1873,  President  Grant  immediately 
appointed  him  minister  to  Russia.  Although  his  residence  in 
Russia  was  brief,  yet  during  the  time  he  was  at  the  Russian  Court 
he  arranged  a  convention  protecting  trade-marks,  and  made  the 
most  of  a  golden  opportunity  to  learn  the  art  of  manufacturing  the 
far  famed  "Russia  leather." 

He  made  a  practical  application  of  his  knowledge  when  he 
returned  to  the  United  States  and  introduced  into  this  country 
the  Russian  process  of  tanning  leather. 

In  July,  1874,  Governor  Jewell  was  appointed  by  President 
Grant,  postmaster  general  of  the  United  States  to  succeed  J.  A,  J. 
Cresswell  of  Maryland.  Hurrying  home  from  his  foreign  mission. 
Governor  Jewell  accepted  this  honorable  position  in  the  president's 
cabinet,  and  began  the  duties  of  the  office,  August  24,  1874.  While 
at  the  head  of  the  post  office  department  he  instituted  several 
needed  reforms  in  the  service,  and  was  the  pioneer  in  establishing 
the  system  of  fast  mail  trains,  which  has  since  been  extended,  and 
become  such  an  inestimable  boon  to  the  public.  He  was  also 
active  in  the  whiskey  ring  prosecution. 

In  1876,  owing,  it  is  said,  to  the  selfish  interest  of  a  political 
cabal.  President  Grant  asked  for  Jewell's  resignation,  although  he 
was  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  chief  executive.  Jewell  resigned 
the  same  time  as  Benjamin  H.  Bristow,  secretary  of  the  treasury. 
Seven  years  later  the  "New  York  Tribune"  declared  that  Jewell's 

279 


T'  be        Go   V   e   r   n   0   r   s       of       C  o   ti    n   e   c   t  i  c    21    t 

removal  was  brought  about  in  order  to  strengthen  the  Republican 
party  in  Indiana  for  the  fall  election.  On  July  12,  1876,  Jewell 
was  succeeded  by  James  M.  Tyner  of  Indiana. 

Governor  Jewell's  return  to  Connecticut  was  made  the  occasion 
of  a  loyal  demonstration  in  honor  of  her  distinguished  son.  At 
Hartford  he  was  met  by  a  great  concourse  of  citizens,  and  the  cele- 
bration was  one  of  the  largest  ever  held  in  the  city.  A  great 
procession  was  formed,  salutes  of  artillery  fired,  speeches  of  welcome 
were  made  by  distinguished  men  and  in  various  other  ways  the  city 
paid  tribute  to  the  fiithful  public  servant  who  had  returned  to 
private  life. 

After  this  he  held  no  political  office,  but  was  always  in  great 
demand  as  a  popular  campaign  orator.  He  was  interested  in 
various  business  enterprises  including  the  great  belting  establish- 
ment, and  was  president  of  the  Jewell  Pin  Company,  the  Southern 
New  England  Telephone  Company,  and  the  United  States  Tele- 
phone Association. 

Governop-Jcwell  was  not  in  sympathy  with  General  Grant's 
candidacy  for  a  third  term,  but  did  not  openly  oppose  him  on 
account  of  having  been  a  member  of  his  cabinet.  After  General 
Garfield  was  nominated.  Governor  Jewell  was  immediately  elected 
chairman  of  the  Republican  National  Committee,  and  on  him  fell 
the  duty  of  supervising  the  campaign.  This  task  he  fulfilled  with 
great  energy  and  success  as  was  shown  by  the  following  election. 

2S0 


I'  h   e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

The  vast  amount  of  work  connected  with  this  campaign  seriously 
affected  his  health,  and  shortened  his  hfe. 

Returning  to  Hartford  he  spent  the  remaining  years  in  busi- 
ness, and  died  at  his  home  in  that  city  on  February  lo,  1883,  aged 
fifty-eight  years. 

It  is  related  that  shortly  before  he  died,  Governor  Jewell  said 
to  his  physician :  "  Doctor,  how  long  does  it  take  ^"  The  physician 
inquired  what  he  meant,  and  he  replied :  "  How  long  does  it  take 
for  a  man  to  die*?"  "In  your  condition,  governor,  it  is  a  matter  of 
only  a  few  hours,"  answered  the  physician.  "  All  right,  doctor," 
said  the  dying  statesman,  and  he  settled  back  quietly  upon  his 
pillow  to  await  the  end. 


^^^Lt^      ^    ^.^o-^ 


FORTY -FOURTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

zvas 
CHARLES    R.    INGERSOLL 

The  product  of  five  generations  of  state  patriot- 
ism, and  son  of  a  United  States  minister  to  the 
court  of  St.  Petersburg,  he  received  the  broaden- 
ing influences  of  a  higher  education  and  travel  and 
as  a  prominent  jurist  entered  public  life,  receiving 
many  honors  and  never  suffering  defeat  in  the  pop- 
ular vote  of  his  fellow  citizens — For  more  than  a 
half  century  he  was  one  of  the  most  esteemed  men 
in  the  state,  and  died  in  his  eighty-second  year 


CHARLES 


ROBERTS 


I     N     G     E     R     S     O     L 


FOR  five  generations  members  of  the   Ingersoll  family  were 
prominent  in  the  affairs  of  this  commonwealth. 

Jonathan  Ingersoll,  the  great-grandfather  of  Charles  R. 
Ingersoll,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in  the  class  of  1736, 
pastor  of  a  church  in  Ridgefield  for  forty  years,  a  chaplain  in  the 
French  War  in  1758,  and  a  brother  of  the  Hon.  Jared  Ingersoll, 
chiefly  known  in  Connecticut  history  from  his  having  accepted  the 
office  of  "Stamp  Distributor"  just  before  the  Revolution. 

A  son  of  the  first  Jonathan,  bearing  the  same  name,  was  also  a 
Yale  graduate,  and  for  many  years  held  a  distinguished  place  at 
the  Connecticut  bar.  He  died  while  holding  the  office  of  lieu- 
tenant governor.  His  son,  the  Hon.  Ralph  Isaacs  Ingersoll, 
father  of  the  late  Governor  Ingersoll,  was  a  leading  member  of  the 
Connecticut  Legislature,  and  afterwards  went  to  Congress  where  he 
represented  his  district  in  an  able  manner  from  1825  to  1833. 
Later  in  life  he  was  attorney  general  of  the  state,  and  United 
States  minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  Petersburg. 

285 


T'  h  e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

Charles  Roberts  Ingersoll  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Septem- 
ber 16,  1821,  and  entered  Yale  College  in  1836,  where  he  gained 
many  honors  as  a  thoughtful,  brilliant  student.  He  was  graduated 
in  1840,  near  the  head  of  his  class,  and  prominent  for  his  attain- 
ments in  the  social  and  literary  circles  of  the  college.  Soon  after 
graduation  Ingersoll  sailed  for  Europe  on  the  United  States  frigate 
"Preble,"  of  which  his  uncle,  Captain  Voorhees,  was  commander. 
Remaining  abroad  for  two  years,  he  visited  various  portions  of  the 
continent,  and  then  returned  to  his  home  to  study  law.  He 
entered  the  Yale  Law  School,  graduated  in  1844,  and  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar  in  New  Haven  the  following  year.  Commencing 
at  once  to  practice  in  New  Haven  he  remained  there  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  following  his  profession.  His  superior  ability 
soon  brought  him  success,  and  gave  him  a  prominence  in  the 
political  life  of  the  state.  In  1856  Ingersoll  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  General  Assembly,  and  was  re-elected  in  1857  ^^^  1858. 
He  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic  National  Conven- 
tion in  1864,  and  in  1866  was  chosen  for  the  fourth  time  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  senatorship  was  offered 
him  from  his  district  in  1871,  but  he  declined  the  honor,  and  then 
represented  New  Haven  in  the  Lower  House  of  another  session. 
Ingersoll  was  now  one  of  the  most  prominent  Democratic  leaders 
in  Connecticut,  and  in  1 873  he  was  elected  governor  by  a  flatter- 
ing majority.     The  following  year  he  was  re-elected  by  a   majority 

286 


T^  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

017,000.  His  administration  proved  so  successful  that  he  was 
nominated  and  elected  for  the  third  time  in  1875.  In  that  year 
the  term  of  office  for  a  governor  was  changed  from  one  to  two 
years,  and  by  constitutional  amendment  the  term  from  1876-7  was 
made  to  expire  in  1877. 

The  opponents  of  Governor  IngersoU  in  the  two  last  elections 
were  both  graduates  of  Yale  College,  Henry  B.  Harrison,  after- 
wards governor,  and  Henry  C.  Robinson  of  Hartford.  In  1876 
Governor  IngersoU  was  a  presidential  elector,  and  in  1877 
declined  a  renomination  as  governor  of  the  state.  A  curious  fact 
of  his  political  career  is  that  he  was  never  defeated  for  an  office. 

A  writer,  commenting  on  his  career  in  politics,  has  said : 

"  His  record  in  political  life  is  one  which  most  statesmen  can 
only  hope  for  or  envy,  and  has  received  the  praise  of  his  bitterest 
political  antagonists."  ' 

After  his  retirement  from  the  governorship,  IngersoU  never 
held  any  political  office,  but  devoted  his  time  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  New  Haven.  On  resuming  his  professional  work  in 
1877  he  was  often  called  not  only  into  the  State  and  Federal  courts, 
but  into  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  at  Washington.  One 
of  the  important  cases  before  the  Supreme  Court  in  which  he  was 
counsel  was  that  of  the  Bridgeport  Bran  Company,  in  which  the 
law  on  the  reissuing  of  patents  was  finally  determined.  He  was 
afterward  engaged  as  counsel  for  Yale  University,  and  his  argu- 

287 


'The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

ments  in  the  case  of  Yale  vs.  the  Connecticut  Agricultural 
College,  over  a  congressional  appropriation  attracted  wide 
attention.  A  writer  has  said  that  Governor  Ingersoll  was  the 
last  survivor  of  a  famous  quartet  of  Connecticut  lawyers,  who  were 
in  the  prime  of  their  bar  leadership  twenty-five  years  ago.  The 
other  three  were  Jeremiah  Halsey  of  Norwich,  Richard  D. 
Hubbard  of  Hartford  and  John  S.  Beach  of  New  Haven. 

"  His  career  in  the  Elm  City,"  says  a  newspaper  biographer, 
"for  the  past  fifty  years,  his  venerable  white  head,  his  military 
bearing  and  his  thoroughly  attractive  personality,  is  a  by-word 
throughout  the  state."  His  venerable  figure  was  until  recently 
familiar  about  the  streets  of  the  city  he  loved  so  well. 

Many  honors  were  bestowed  on  Governor  Ingersoll,  and  in 
1874  Yale  University  conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
upon  her  distinguished  graduate.  Governor  Ingersoll  once  told 
the  writer  that  he  had  seen  and  conversed  with  every  governor  of 
Connecticut  under  our  present  constitution  from  Oliver  Wolcott, 
who  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  his  father's  house,  to  George  P. 
McLean. 

Governor  Ingersoll  died  at  his  home  in  New  Haven  on 
January  25,  1903,  and  his  funeral  was  attended  by  the  state's  most 
prominent  citizens.  "  The  Hartford  Courant "  in  commenting 
editorially  on  his  death  said : 

"  He  was  the  oldest  of  Connecticut's  honored  ex-governors. 

288 


1"  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

He  inherited  a  distinguished  name,  and  enriched  it  with  added 
distinction.  One  of  the  handsomest  men  of  his  generation,  he 
lived  up  to  his  looks;  his  nature  was  fine  and  his  life  was  fine. 
New  Haven,  the  city  of  his  birth,  watched  with  pride  but  not 
with  surprise  his  successes  at  the  bar,  where  he  was  long  a  leader, 
and  his  growth  in  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  political  associ- 
ates. He  was  a  popular  governor,  relinquishing  the  chair  at  last 
(more  than  a  quarter-century  ago)  of  his  own  volition.  Once  and 
again  he  was  mentioned  for  the  Senate.  He  continued  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  after  his  retirement  from  politics. 
Indeed,  up  to  a  comparatively  recent  time  he  went  to  his  law 
office  on  pleasant  days  and  stayed  there  for  an  hour  or  two,  sitting 
at  the  window,  looking  out  on  his  beloved  New  Haven  Green, 
hearing  the  details  of  cases  from  the  younger  men,  and  bringing  to 
bear  on  their  difficulties  his  ripe  experience  and  learning.  He 
lived  to  see  his  eighty-second  year." 

His  children  are  Miss  Justine  Ingersoll  of  New  Haven,  a 
writer  of  prominence ;  Mrs.  Henry  Ganz  of  Wilmington,  Dela- 
ware ;  Mrs.  George  Havens  of  New  York,  and  Francis  Gregory 
Ingersoll  of  New  Haven. 


389 


i:he 

FORTY-FIFTH  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
RICHARD  D.  HUBBARD 

Born  in  Berlin,  and  left  an  orphan,  he  worked 
his  way  through  Yale  College,  studied  law  and 
rose  to  a  lofty  position  at  the  bar — As  congress- 
man and  governor  he  gained  celebrity  as  one 
of  the  most  convincing  orators  in  the  country 
— By  patient  toil  he  forced  himself  to  the  top 
and  compelled  recognition,  obtaining  a  com- 
plete mastery  of  many  scholarly  subjects— It 
was  during  his  administration  that  the  woman's 
property     law     was    passed    in     Connecticut 


^^^  ^.,^^^-tz.^.^e^^f:^ 


RICHARD 


DUDLEY 


HUBBARD 


GOVERNOR  Hubbard  was  a  poor  boy  who  rose  by  his 
own  exertion  to  the  highest  place  at  the  bar,  and  became 
an  orator  of  national  reputation. 

Born  in  Berlin,  September  7,  1818,  he  was  the  son  of  Lemuel 
Hubbard,  an  old  resident  of  the  town  who  descended  from  George 
Hubbard,  one  of  the  early  magistrates  of  Guilford,  and  a  frequent 
deputy  from  that  town  to  the  General  Court. 

The  young  man  was  left  an  orphan  early  in  life,  without 
means  to  pay  for  an  education.  However,  he  decided  to  attend 
college,  and  after  a  preparatory  course  at  East  Hartford,  entered 
Yale  College  in  1835.  He  was  obliged  to  support  himself  while 
studying  at  Yale,  but  he  took  high  rank  in  his  class  and  was 
graduated  in  1839.  Then  he  studied  law  in  the  ofSce  of  William 
Hungerford  at  Hartford  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1842. 
In  1846  Hubbard  was  chosen  state's  attorney  for  Hartford 
County,  and  this  office  he  held  with  the  exception  of  two  years 
until  1868.  He  often  represented  the  city  in  the  General 
Assembly  and  rose  to  a  lofty  position  as  an  able  lawyer. 

293 


^  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Entering  into  politics  early  in  life  Hubbard  was  always 
prominently  identified  with  the  Democratic  party,  yet  during  the 
Civil  War  he  was  an  unwavering  supporter  of  the  Federal 
government. 

In  1867  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  his  district,  and  was 
a  member  of  that  body  during  the  40th  session.  Life  at 
Washington  was  apparently  uncongenial  to  Hubbard,  for  at  the 
next  election  he  declined  being  renominated.  He  again  took  up 
his  law  practice  and  having  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Loren 
P.  Waldo  and  Alvin  P.  Hyde  devoted  the  remaining  years  of  his 
life  to  his  profession. 

In  1877  Hubbard  was  nominated  for  governor  of  the  state, 
and  elected  by  a  good  majority.  He  was  the  first  one  to  serve 
under  the  two  years'  term. 

In  speaking  of  the  importance  of  some  of  the  enactments 
during  Governor  Hubbard's  administration,  the  late  John  Hooker 
in  publishing  the  personal  correspondence  between  them,  in  his 
"Reminiscences,"  says : 

"Governor  Hubbard  in  his  first  message  to  the  General 
Assembly  stated  in  very  strong  terms  the  injustice  done  to  married 
women  in  respect  to  their  property  by  the  law  as  it  stood,  being 
the  ancient  English  law  with  a  few  recent  modifications." 

Mrs.  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker  in  her  autobiography  in  "The 
Connecticut  Magazine"  says:     "In  1870  1  presented  a  bill  to  the 

294 


l!  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Connecticut  Legislature  making  husband  and  wife  equal  in  prop- 
erty rights  and  persisted  in  its  passage  without  avail  through 
succeeding  legislatures  until  1877.  Governor  Richard  D.  Hub- 
bard was  an  intimate  friend  of  my  husband  and  myself  and  had 
become  much  interested  in  our  cause.  He  requested  Mr.  Hooker 
to  draft  a  bill  for  a  public  act  remedying  the  injustice.  The  bill 
was  passed  in  1877  and  still  holds  its  place  in  the  statute  book 
without  material  change." 

This  notable  enactment  has  had  far  reaching  consequences 
and  proved  a  master  stroke  at  the  opportune  time.  It  gave 
woman  her  property  emancipation  in  Connecticut,  abandoning  the 
old  idea  of  the  superior  rights  of  her  husband.  Samuel  Bowles, 
the  distinguished  editor  of  "  The  Springfield  Republican,"  pro- 
nounced it  "a  great  step  forward." 

Governor  Hubbard  was  renominated  in  1879,  but  failed  to 
be  elected.  His  administration  as  governor  was  marked  by  his 
earnest  desire  to  serve  the  state  as  well  as  possible,  and  to  do  his 
whole  duty  irrespective  of  any  partnership  whatever.  Retiring 
from  the  office,  he  never  held  a  public  position  afterwards  and  his 
lucrative  practice  engaged  his  attention  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  on  February  28,  1884,  at  his  home  in  Hartford. 

When  George  D.  Sargeant  died  in  1886  it  was  found  he  had 
left  $5,000  for  a  statue  of  Governor  Hubbard.  One  was  made, 
placed  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the  Capitol  grounds,  and  it  faces 

295 


The       Governors        of       Connecticut 

Washington  street.  The  statue  represents  the  governor  standing 
in  a  position  as  though  addressing  the  court  or  jury.  It  was 
unveiled  on  June  9,  1890,  in  the  presence  of  the  state  officials 
and  other  prominent  citizens.  It  bears  the  inscription :  "  Richard 
D.  Hubbard,  Lawyer,  Orator,  Statesman." 

"As  an  example  of  a  self-made  man,"  says  a  biographer, 
"there  was  none  more  shining.  From  a  poor  boy,  through  years 
of  patient  toil  and  studied  application  to  his  books  he  forced 
himself  to  the  top  and  compelled  admiration  and  respect  of  every- 
body in  his  native  state,  not  excepting  political  foes." 

The  following  professional  estimate  of  Governor  Hubbard  is 
taken  from  the  "Judicial  and  Civil  History  of  Connecticut." 

"  It  was,  however,  in  the  field  of  the  law  that  he  won  his 
great  success.  He  was  not  only  the  first  lawyer  in  the  state,  but 
its  greatest  orator.  His  superiority  as  a  lawyer  was  owing  less 
to  a  laborious  study  of  books,  though  he  was  always  a  diligent 
student  and  very  thorough  in  the  preparation  of  his  cases,  than  to 
his  perfect  comprehension  of  legal  principles.  He  obtained  a 
complete  mastery  of  the  science  of  law.  He  had  strong  common 
sense,  by  which  he  tested  everything,  and  with  sound  men  of 
judgment  he  united  great  quickness  of  apprehension  and  brilliancy 
of  imagination.  His  mind  was  eminently  a  philosophical  one, 
and  found  recreation  in  abstract  speculation:  nothing  interested 
him  more  than  the  great  mysteries  and  baffling  questions  of  life. 
296 


1^  h  e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

"  It  was  as  an  orator  that  he  was  best  known  to  the  general 
public.  With  great  natural  powers  of  speech  he  improved 
himself  by  a  good  classical  education  and  by  a  life-long  study  of 
ancient  and  modern  classics.  There  was  in  his  speeches  a  special 
quietness  of  manner,  an  exquisiteness  of  thought,  a  fertility  of 
imagination,  and  a  power  and  grace  of  expression  that  made  them 
captivating.  Some  of  his  addresses,  in  commemoration  of  his 
deceased  brethren  at  the  bar,  are  remarkable  for  their  beauty. 
That  upon  William  Hungerford  is  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of 
composition  that  our  language  contains.  To  his  profession  he  was 
ardently  attached ;  he  loved  its  science,  its  eloquence,  its  wit,  its 
nobility.  He  was  proud  of  its  history,  of  its  contribution  to 
philosophy  and  literature,  and  its  struggle  in  defense  of  human 
rights,  and  assaults  upon  human  wrongs.  While  he  was  the  ablest 
and  most  accomplished  lawyer  of  our  state,  his  culture  was 
peculiarly  his  own.  He  sought  and  studied  the  great  arguments 
and  orations  of  the  past  and  present.  He  was  a  profound  student 
of  Shakespeare  and  Milton;  he  delighted  in  John  Bunyan,  Thomas 
Browne,  Thomas  Fuller  and  Jeremy  Taylor.  He  was  cultivated 
in  the  French  language,  and  enjoyed  the  suggestive  methods  of 
French  wit,  and  was  familiar  with  their  great  dramatists  and  public 
orators." 


297 


The 
FORTY  -  SIXTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CON    N    ECTICUT 

was 
CHARLES    B.    ANDREWS 

The  son  of  a  clergyman  who,  after  an  academic 
course  at  Amherst  College,  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Fairfield  County  bar,  later  re- 
moving to  the  Litchfield  County  bar  and  becom- 
ing one  of  its  most  eminent  practitioners.  After 
a  legislative  experience  he  became  a  leader  in 
state  politics  and  during  his  administration  as 
governor  counseled  many  reforms.  As  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court  he  won  recognition  for 
his  greatpower  of  analysis  and  absolute  sagacity 


/iaJUj  S.OjjucUsu^  - 


CHARLES 


BARTLETT 


ANDREWS 


CHARLES    Bartlett   Andrews,    the    former   chief  justice  of 
the  Connecticut  Supreme  Court,  was  a  descendant  of  Wil- 
liam Andrews,  one    of  the   first  settlers  of  Hartford,    and 
for  a  long  period  its  town  clerk.     His   father   was   Rev,    Erastus 
Andrews,  pastor  of  a  church  in  North  Sunderland,  Massachusetts, 
he  having  removed  to  that  state  with  his  family  early  in  life. 

Judge  Andrews  was  born  in  Sunderland,  November  4,  1834, 
and  entered  Amherst  College  in  1854,  where  he  was  graduated  with 
high  honors  four  years  later.  He  then  studied  law  in  the  town  of 
Sherman,  Connecticut,  and  in  i860  was  admitted  to  the  Fairfield 
County  bar,  beginning  practice  in  the  small  town  of  Kent.  His 
progress  was  rapid  and  he  soon  became  known  as  one  of  the  ablest 
young  men  of  the  section.  When  John  M.  Hubbard  of  Litch- 
field was  chosen  a  member  of  Congress  in  1863,  he  secured 
Andrews  to  take  charge  of  his  large  law  practice  while  the  former 
was  attending  the  sessions  in  Washington.  Hubbard  was  at  that 
time  the  leader  of  the  Litchfield  County  bar,  and  his  selection  of 
so  young  a  man  to  look  after  his  business  was  a  great  compliment 

to  the  legal  ability  of  Andrews. 

301 


"The       Governors        of       C  o   n   n   e  c   t  I  c   v   t 

Becoming  a  partner  of  Hubbard,  he  conducted  the  practice  of 
the  firm  with  much  success  during  the  succeeding  four  years,  and 
handled  some  of  the  most  important  cases  that  came  before  the 
bar  of  the  county.  Andrews  soon  grew  to  be  one  of  the  leading 
lawyers  of  that  section  and  naturally  became  prominent  in  politics.  . 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  in  1868  and  re-elected 
in  1869. 

Andrews  came  into  prominence  during  the  second  session, 
when  he  occupied  the  position  of  chairmxan  of  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee. In  the  early  seventies  several  of  the  old-time  lawyers  of 
the  Litchfield  bar,  who  enjoyed  large  practices,  were  removed  from 
the  field  of  action  from  one  cause  or  another.  Hubbard  died; 
Origin  S.  Seymour  and  Edward  W.  Seymour,  two  other  able  law- 
yers, removed  to  Bridgeport;  so  that  Andrews  at  the  age  of  forty, 
found  himself  in  possession  of  the  largest  and  best  practice  in  that 
portion  of  the  state.  During  the  next  few  years  his  time  was 
wholly  absorbed  in  attending  to  the  duties  of  his  profession,  and 
he  did  not  enter  into  politics.  In  1878,  however,  he  accepted  the 
nomination  for  representative  from  Litchfield.  At  the  following 
election  Andrews  was  elected  and  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  being 
the  first  Republican  to  hold  that  office  since  the  Civil  War.  In 
this  session  Andrews  was  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  and 
leader  of  the  House,  where  he  made  a  strong  impression  as  an  able, 
earnest,  painstaking  legislator.     It  has  been  said  by  a  writer  that 

302 


^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

the  wisdom  as  a  leader  displayed  by  Andrews  at  this  session  was 
what  led  to  his  nomination  for  governor  later  on. 

In  1878  Andrews  was  nominated  for  governor  of  the  state, 
and  as  the  state  government  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Demo- 
crats for  almost  a  decade,  his  chances  were  thought  to  be  very 
slight.  In  the  election  he  received  a  plurality,  but  was  elected  by 
the  Legislature.  In  commenting  on  Governor  Andrews'  adminis- 
tration, the  "  Medico-Legal  Magazine  "  says :  "  During  Governor 
Andrews'  two  years'  term  of  office,  several  important  measures  were 
before  the  Legislature.  The  boundary  line  between  Connecticut 
and  New  York,  which  had  remained  uncertain  for  a  century  and  a 
half,  in  fact,  since  the  foundation  of  their  governments,  was  at  last 
settled  by  a  joint  commission,  whose  report  was  accepted  by  the 
legislatures  of  both  states.  But  by  far  the  most  important  legisla- 
tion of  Governor  Andrews'  term  was  the  passage  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Practice  Act — a  measure  framed  by  some  of  the  most  eminent 
lawyers  in  the  state  to  serve  the  purpose  of  the  codes  framed  in 
other  states  for  simplifying  and  reforming  the  common  law  plead- 
ings and  practice  in  civil  actions.  Having  the  benefit  of  thirty 
years'  experience  elsewhere,  this  act  was  a  model  of  simplicity  and 
practical  usefulness,  reforming  what  was  cumbersome  and  intricate 
in  the  old  practice,  while  it  retained  the  advantage  of  the  sound 
principles  and  innumerable  precedents  underlying  it. 

"  Its  success  has  fully  justified  the  expectations  of   those  who 

303 


T  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

procured  its  passage,  and  it  formed  a  most  important  epoch  in  the 
history  of  Connecticut  legislation."  Returning  to  his  practice, 
Governor  Andrews  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court 
in  1881  by  Governor  Bigelow.  His  ability  on  the  bench  was 
demonstrated  to  such  a  degree  that  in  1889,  °^  ^^  retirement  of 
Chief  Justice  Park,  Governor  Bulkeley  appointed  Judge 
Andrews  to  that  position.  Succeeding  Chief  Justice  Park  in  the 
chief  judicial  office  of  the  state,  Governor  Andrews  occupied  the 
position  during  a  period  when  some  of  the  most  important  cases 
in  the  history  of  the  state  were  before  the  court.  The  celebrated 
quo  warranto  suit  growing  out  of  the  deadlock  of  1891,  the  legal 
contest  growing  out  of  the  legislation  regarding  the  East  Hartford 
bridge  affair,  and  the  suit  of  the  state  against  the  Aetna  Insurance 
Company,  were  some  of  the  most  important  matters  before  the 
court.  He  was  untiring  in  his  work,  had  a  wide  range  of  vision 
which  broadened  with  experience,  possessed  much  sagacity,  was 
uncommonly  well  versed  in  the  law  and  had  the  gift  of  Yankee 
common  sense  developed  to  a  noticeable  degree.  It  is  said  that 
many  of  the  more  important  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
while  Judge  Andrews  was  on  the  bench,  were  written  by  him, 
and  although  occasionally  some  of  his  learned  colleagues  differed 
from  his  opinion,  they  all  recognized  in  him  ability  of  a  high  order, 
great  power  of  analysis,  and  conceded  his  thorough  knowledge  of 
law   and   the    principles     of    its      application.      Judge     Andrews 

304 


1^  b  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

tendered  his  resignation  as  chief  justice  to  Governor  McLean  on 
June  lo,  1901,  to  go  into  effect  October  1st.  It  was  reluctantly 
accepted  by  the  governor.  The  General  Assembly  at  the  next 
session  appointed  Judge  Andrews  a  state  referee  from  Decem- 
ber 1,  1901.  The  ex-governor  then  retired  to  his  home  in 
Litchfield  where  he  lived  in  partial  retirement.  In  November, 
1901,  Governor  Andrews  was  unanimously  chosen  the  delegate 
from  Litchfield  to  the  late  Constitutional  Convention  at  Hartford, 
held  in  1902.  He  was  made  presiding  officer  of  the  convention 
by  practically  unanimous  agreement,  as  was  Governor  Oliver 
Wolcott  of  Litchfield  eighty  years  before.  He  attended  the 
session  very  faithfully  and  spoke  occasionally  on  the  floor  of  the 
convention. 

Governor  Andrews'  wide  accomplishments  were  recognized 
by  the  leading  universities,  as  he  was  made  Doctor  of  Laws  by 
Yale,  Amherst  and  Wesleyan  universities. 

He  died  very  suddenly  at  his  home  on  South  street  in  Litch- 
field on  September  12,  1902.  The  funeral  services  were  held  on 
Monday,  September  15th,  in  the  Episcopal  Church  at  Litchfield, 
many  state  officers  being  present. 

Of  Governor  Andrews'  career  the  best  estimate  was  written 
by  Charles    Hopkins  Clark  in  the  "Hartford  Coufant"  as  follows 

"Judge  Andrews  has  often  and  fitly  been  cited  as  a  fine 
illustration  for  the  younger  men  of    what  chances  there    are    for 

305 


T'  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

those  who  have  the  sense  and  ability  to  improve  their  opportun- 
ities. He  started  as  a  poor  and  unknown  boy  and  he  reached  our 
highest  and  most  honored  offices  by  doing  as  well  as  he  could 
what  came  upon  him  to  be  done,  and  by  avoiding  nothing  that 
did  come.  When  others  declined  the  empty  nomination  for 
governor,  he  accepted,  ready  alike  for  defeat  or  victory ;  and,  when 
he  was  elected,  he  filled  the  office  so  well  that  other  things 
naturally  followed.  He  proved  equal  to  whatever  came  and  so 
honors  kept  coming. 

"  His  name  has  become  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  state  and 
he  has  had  no  small  part  in  guiding  its  development  and 
shaping  its  laws.  Just  running  over  the  places  he  has  held 
suggests  what  a  large  figure  he  has  cut  in  our  affairs,  but  one 
cannot  know  the  whole  who  has  not  followed  closely  the  details  of 
his  useful  work  during  his  long  life." 


306 


The 
FORTY-SEVENTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

HOBART      B.      BIGELOV^ 

Born  in  North  Haven  and  apprenticed  to  learn 
the  machinist  trade  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years- 
He  purchased  the  machine  shop  where  he  was 
employed  and  developed  the  business  until  it 
stood  in  the  foremost  rank  of  Connecticut's  manu- 
facturing establishments— Business  qualities  and 
personal  integrity  devoted  to  public  affairs 
resulted  in  his  being  honored  with  the  highest 
political  trusts  in  his  state,  the  duties  of  which  he 
fulfilled  with  business  promptness  and  accuracy 


H     O     B     A     R     T 


B     I     G     E     L     O     W 


THE  career  of  Hobart  B.  Bigelow  was  another  brilliant  exam- 
ple of  the  self-made  man.  By  great  perseverance  and  un- 
flagging industry  he  became  one  of  the  first  citizens  of  this 
state  and  a  leading  business  man.  He  was  born  in  North  Haven 
on  May  16,  1834.  His  father  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  town, 
and  his  mother  a  lineal  descendant  of  James  Pierpont,  second 
minister  of  the  New  Haven  Church  and  one  of  the  founders  of 
Yale  College. 

The  family  removed  to  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts, 
when  the  boy  Bigelow  was  ten  years  of  age.  He  attended  the 
public  school  in  that  town,  and  was  afterwards  a  student  in  an 
academy  at  South  Egremont.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  the  young 
man  left  school  and  was  apprenticed  to  William  Faulkner  of  Guil- 
ford, president  of  the  Guilford  Manufacturing  Company  in  that 
town.  It  was  his  desire  to  learn  the  machinist  trade  but  he  made 
little  progress  in  Guilford,  for  eight  months  after  taking  up  his 
residence  there  the  company  failed.  Going  to  New  Haven,  he 
found  employment  and  continued  learning  the  trade  with  the  old 
New  Haven  Manufacturing  Company. 

When  his  years  of  apprenticeship   were   over   Bigelow  com- 

309 


T"  h  e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

menced  work  with  Ives  and  Smith,  where  he  remained  until  1861. 
Then  he  purchased  the  machine  shop,  later  on  adding  the  foundry, 
and  by  his  able  management  so  enlarged  the  business  that  in  1870 
they  transferred  the  whole  plant  to  Grapevine  Point.  He  began 
the  manufacture  of  steam  boilers  and  made  such  a  pronounced 
success  ot  the  enterprise  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  few  years 
ago  his  business  was  in  the  foremost  rank  of  Connecticut's  great 
manufacturing  establishments.  It  is  still  one  of  the  representative 
plants  of  the  state. 

Early  in  his  career  in  New  Haven,  Bigelow  became  interested 
in  public  affairs,  and  was  soon  asked  to  hold  positions  of  trust. 
In  1875  he  was  elected  a  Republican  representative  from  New 
Haven  to  the  General  Assembly.  His  popularity  in  New  Haven 
was  pronounced,  and  whenever  he  was  a  nominee  for  office  he 
was  always  successful.  Bigelow  was  elected  mayor  of  New  Haven 
in  1878  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and  his  administration  was 
acceptable  to  all.  In  1880  he  was  elected  governor  of  Connecticut 
on  the  Republican  ticket,  and  he  served  in  this  office  for  two  years. 
After  retiring  from  this  position  Governor  Bigelow  never  held 
public  office  again,  and  devoted  his  time  to  his  business.  He  died 
at  the  New  Haven  House  on  October  12,  1891,  after  a  short 
illness.  Governor  Bigelow  showed  "by  his  benevolence,  high- 
minded  Christian  purpose,  and  unblemished  personal  character," 
what  an   influence  such  a  career  can  have   on  his  fellowmen.     He 

310 


T"  h   e       Governors        of       Connecticut 

left  an  unperishable  record  in  New  Haven  which  time  cannot 
efface,  and  few  men  have  hved  and  died  in  that  city  who  were 
more  respected  by  the  community.  His  son,  Frank  L.  Bigelow, 
was  an  aide-de-camp  on  his  father's  staff  and  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Sheffield  Scientific  School. 


311 


FORTY  -  EIGHTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
THOMAS     M.    WALLER 

Left  an  orphan  at  nine  years  of  age,  with  abso- 
lutely no  means  of  support,  he  began  earning 
his  own  livelihood  as  a  newsboy  on  the  streets 
of  New  York — He  later  became  a  cabin  boy  and 
made  several  long  voyages  to  sea — His  native 
ability  attracted  attention  and  he  was  adopted 
by  a  New  London  family  and  educated,  be- 
coming one  of  the  ablest  barristers  and  orators 
in  this  country,  honored  by  political  trusts, 
and  appointed  by  President  Cleveland  as 
United  States  consul-general  at  London,  England 


■    ^% 


]i\J>y^.u^     ^i     OsTiJ,Z.t^ 


■^1 


THOMAS 


M     c     D     O     N     A     L 


WALLER 


IN  the  life  of  Thomas  M.  Waller  there  is  much  romance.  -It  is 
a  matter  of  note  that  the  majority  of  the  governors  of  Con- 
necticut have  been  the  architects  of  their  own  fortunes,  and  it 
is  especially  true  of  Governor  Waller.  He  was  born  in  New  York 
about  the  year  1839  and  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Armstrong. 
His  parents  died  when  he  was  nine  years  old.  Left  an  orphan 
at  this  tender  age,  with  absolutely  no  means  ot  support,  in  a  great 
city,  he  began  at  once  to  lead  the  life  of  a  newsboy.  From  that 
time  on  he  sold  newspapers  about  the  crowded  streets  in  the  lower 
portion  of  the  city,  and  every  day  was  filled  with  hard  work.  He 
started  his  successful  career  at  this  age  by  extraordinary  devotion 
to  duty  and  submission  to  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed.  His  best  customers  were  found  about  the  old  Tammany 
Hall  of  those  days,  and  it  is  said  that  more  than  one  night  he 
"  pillowed  his  head  on  the  steps  of  the  old  Tribune  building." 

After  a  while  he  took  to  the  sea  and  made  several  long  voy- 
ages as  cabin  boy  and  cook-mate.  This  life  agreed  with  him  and 
he  probably  would  have  passed  his  days  on  the  ocean  had  not  a 

315 


1'  b   e        Governors        of       Connecticvt 

circumstance  occurred  which  changed  his  whole  career.  In  1849 
he  made  arrangements  to  ship  to  Cahtornia  on  the  "  Mt.  Vernon," 
saihng  from  New  London.  About  the  time  the  ship  was  to  sail 
the  late  Robert  K.  Waller,  of  that  city,  found  the  boy  on  the  wharf, 
took  a  fancy  to  him  at  once,  and  adopted  him.  Recognizing  the 
abilit}'  the  young  man  possessed.  Waller  had  him  take  his 
own  name,  and  the  boy  was  given  every  advantage  by  his  benefac- 
tor. He  attended  the  schools  in  New  London,  and  was  graduated 
from  the  Bartlett  High  School  with  honors.  He  then  studied  law 
and  was  admitted  to  the  New  London  County^  bar  in  1861.  Soon 
after,  however,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Second  Regiment, 
Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  was  appointed  fourth  sergeant  in 
Company  E. 

After  going  to  the  front  with  his  regiment  Waller  was  com- 
pelled to  resign  because  of  an  eye  difficulty.  Although  very  young 
he  developed  unusual  oratorical  powers  and  throughout  the  war 
helped  the  Federal  cause  bv  delivering  many  patriotic  addresses 
during  those  dark  days.  His  magnetic  words  gave  renewed  cour- 
age to  many  faltering  men.  Returning  to  New  London,  he  entered 
the  practice  of  his  profession  and  soon  gained  an  envious  reputation 
as  an  able  advocate.  At  the  same  time  Waller  entered  politics  as 
a  Democrat  and  was  an  acknowledged  leader  almost  ftom  the  start. 

He  was  elected  a  representative  from  New  London  to  the 
General  Assembly  in   1867,    1868,    1872  and    1876.     During  the 


The        G  0  ^:   e  r  n  0   r  s        of        Connecticut 


last  session  he  was  speaker  of  the   House.     Waller  was   elected 
secretary  of  state  on  the  Democratic  ticket  with  James  E.  English 
in  1870,  and  in  1873  ^^"^^  honored  by  being   chosen  mayor  of  his 
adopted  city.     He  was  chosen  state   attorney  for   New    London 
County  in  1875,   a  position  which  he  held  until  1883.     ^^    1882 
Waller  was  nominated  for  governor  and  after  a  memorable  campaign 
in  which  he  visited  all  portions  of  the   state,   making    speeches  in 
his  own  behalf  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  2,390  over  W.  H. 
Bulkeley.     He  served  as  chief  executive  ftom  1883  to  1835.     His 
charming    personality,   courtly   manners   and    pronounced   ability 
made  his  name  famous  throughout  the  country.     Soon  after  retiring 
from  the  governor's  chair  in  1885,   President  Cleveland  appointed 
Governor    Waller  as    United     States    consul-general  at    London, 
England.     He  held  this  position  until   1889,  when  he  returned  to 
the  United  States  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.     His 
famous  speech  at  St.  Louis  in  1888,  when  he  placed  in  nomination 
Grover  Cleveland,  for  president  proved  remarkable  as  oratory.     He 
was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1901. 

Governor  Waller  has  held  no  political  office  of  late  years  but 
has  attained  great  eminence  at  both  the  Connecticut  and  New 
York  bar.  A  writer  in  commenting  on  his  career  says:  "Gov- 
ernor Waller  has  consistently  been  a  Democrat  in  politics.  He 
has  been  frankly  independent  on  many  occasions  in  convention  of 
his  party,  and  in  other  places  of  partisan  debate.     As  an  orator 

3T7 


'The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

he  is  impressive  to  a  degree  which,  on  occasion  of  party  strife  in 
important  gatherings,  had  given  him  a  magnetic  hold  of  men,  and 
no  man  of  his  party  in  the  state  has  so  often  carried  conviction  by 
the  power  of  eloquence  or  any  other  influence." 


:i8 


The 
FORTY-NINTH     GOVERNOR 

of 

CONNECTICUT 

was 
HENRY    B.    HARRISON 

An  instructor  in  a  private  school  who  attained 
scholarship  at  Yale  and  was  graduated  with 

the  highest  honors  the  college  could  bestow 

He  studied  law,  became  an  anti-slavery  leader, 
and  was  prominent  in  the  organization  of  the 
Republican  party  in  this  state— His  first  politi- 
cal service  began  in  his  native  city  of  New 
Haven  and  led  to  the  governorship,  grac- 
ing   the    office    with    his    scholarly    dignity 


f-'K. 


H^/y^i 


/3.  ^itacyMn^^^zr>-^ 


HENRY 


A     L     D     W     I     N 


H     A     R     R     I     S     O      N 


HENRY  Baldwin  Harrison,  one  of  the  first  members  of  the 
Republican  party  in  Connecticut,  and  a  distinguished  law- 
yer of  the  state,  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  September  1 1, 
1821.  He  was  the  son  of  one  of  ^the  thrifty,  honorable 
old  Connecticut  families.  As  a  [youth  he  was  a  student,  and  he 
became  an  assistant  teacher  in  the  famous  old-time  school  at  New 
Haven,  of  which  John  E.  Lovell  was  principal.  He  was  fitted 
for  college  by  Rev.  George  A.  Thatcher,  afterwards  president  of 
Iowa  College,  and  a  distinguished  scholar.  Entering  Yale  in  1842 
the  young  collegian  attained  scholarship,  at  the  same  time  con- 
tinuing his  duties  as  an  assistant  in  Lovell's  school.  He  was  grad- 
uated in  1846  as  valedictorian  of  his  class  and  with  the  highest 
honors  the  college  could  bestow. 

In  the  fall  of  1846  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  with 
Lucius  A.  Peck,  Esq.,  and  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar  began 
practice  in  partnership  with  Peck.  Harrison  became  interest- 
ed in  politics,  and  recognized  as  an  anti-slavery  leader  in  Con- 
necticut.    In  1854  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  as 

321 


I'  h  e        G  0   V   e  r  /?   0   r   s       of       Connecticut 

a  Whig.  While  a  member  of  that  body  he  was  the  author  of  the 
Personal  Liberty  Bill,  and  as  an  active  Whig  in  1855  was  success- 
ful in  bringing  about  the  nullification  of  the  fugitive  slave  law. 
During  the  years  1855-6  he  was  one  of  the  men  who  were  prom-, 
inent  in  organizing  the  Republican  party  in  this  state.  He  was 
the  nominee  of  the  party  for  lieutenant  governor  in  1857,  ^^^  ^"^^ 
defeated. 

In  1865  Harrison  again  represented  New  Haven  in  the 
General  Assembly  and  his  name  was  frequently  mentioned  for 
United  States  senator  and  governor.  During  this  session  he 
became  chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  railroads  and  in 
Federal  relations.  He  constantly  and  eloquently  advocated  the 
bill  giving  negroes  the  electoral  franchise.  In  1873  he  again  repre- 
sented New  Haven  in  the  lower  house  of  the  General  Assembly 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  In  1874  he  was 
the  Republican  candidate  for  governor  but  was  defeated  by  Charles 
Robert  IngersoU.  He  was  again  returned  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly as  a  representative  from  New  Haven  in  1883,  and  was  made 
speaker.  Harrison  was  nominated  for  governor  in  1884,  and  after 
a  closely  contested  canvass  was  elected.  Governor  Harrison  served 
the  state  in  an  able  manner  for  two  years,  retiring  in  1887. 

Devoting  himself  absolutely  to  his  large  legal  practice.  Gov- 
ernor Harrison  lived  quietly  at  his  home  in  New  Haven  where  he 
was  esteemed  as  one  of  the  most  honored  residents  of  the  city.     A 


1'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Yale  biographer  has  said  of  Governor  Harrison :  "Probably  his 
unwillingness  to  be  drawn  away  from  the  profession  of  his  choice 
has  more  than  anything  else  hindered  his  receiving  political  honor." 

Governor  Harrison  died  at  his  home  in  New  Haven  on  Octo- 
ber 29,  1901,  and  his  funeral  was  attended  by  the  state's  leading 
citizens. 

Charles  Hopkins  Clark  in  "The  Hartford  Courant"  paid  glow- 
ing tribute  to  the  brilliant  governor  and  friend :  "Connecticut  bom, 
Connecticut  bred,  the  first  scholar  of  his  year  in  Connecticut's  oldest 
college,  he  passed  his  whole  life  in  his  native  state  and  will  sleep  in 
a  Connecticut  grave.  From  his  youth  he  took  a  good  American's 
interest  in  politics,  scorning  the  selfishness  that  devotes  a  clear 
brain  and  eloquent  voice  to  the  unremitting  pursuit  of  private  gain. 

"As  we  write  his  name  the  later  years  vanish  like  a  mist  and 
we  see  again  the  Harrison  of  Capitol  Hill — the  noble  head,  the 
keen  intellectual  face,  the  unfailing  dignity,  the  unfailing  cour- 
tesy. We  hear  again  the  voice  that  never  lacked  the  fitting  word, 
always  had  political  conscience  behind  it  and  often  rose  to  true 
eloquence.  It  seems  a  strange  thing  that  Henry  B.  Harrison 
should  be  dead.  We  bid  farewell,  in  this  parting,  to  a  loyal  and 
scholarly  gentleman  who  gave  his  state  faithful  service  in  public 
and  private  stations  all  his  life  long,  and  who  now  enriches  her 
with  another  inspiring  memory." 

323 


FIFTIETH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 

PHINEAS    C    LOUNSBURY 

The  son  of  a  Ridgefield  farmer  who  during 
his  youth  tilled  the  soil  with  his  father,  and 
then  became  a  clerk  in  a  shoe  store,  later 
confidential  clerk,  then  traveling  salesman, 
and  finally  a  prosperous  manufacturer  of 
boots  and  shoes  —  Elected  to  the  General 
Assembly,  he  became  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  that  body,  a  presidential 
elector  and  governor — After  retiring  from 
politics  he  devoted  his  closing  years  to 
the  development  of  his   financial  interests 


h%  a 


P     H     I     N     E     A     S 

CHAPMAN 

LOUNSBURY 


PHINEAS  C.  Lounsbury  was  born  in  the  town  of  Ridgefield, 
January  lo,  1841,  and  is  descended  from  sturdy  New  Eng- 
land stock.  The  father  of  Governor  Lounsbury  was  a 
farmer  in  Ridgefield  with  an  irreproachable  reputation.  As  a 
boy  the  future  governor  helped  his  father  on  the  farm,  laboring  early 
and  late.  He  found  time  to  attend  school  and  obtain  a  good 
education.  Leaving  the  little  farm,  Lounsbury  went  to  New 
York  City  and  secured  employment  as  a  clerk  in  a  shoe  store. 
In  a  short  time  the  young  man  was  made  confidential  clerk  to 
the  proprietor  of  the  store.  He  afterwards  became  a  traveling 
salesman  for  the  concern,  and  intimately  acquainted  with  every 
department  of  the  business.  As  a  "drummer"  he  was  successful, 
and  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-one  years  decided  to  engage  in 
the  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes.  He  began  this  industry  in 
New  Haven  under  the  firm  name  of  Lounsbury  Brothers,  his 
brother  being  a  partner  in  the  business.  The  business  pros- 
pered from  the  first  and  in  a  short  time  they  had  a  very  lucrative 
trade.  They  afterwards  removed  the  factory  to  South  Norwalk, 
where  it  has  been  operated  for   a  long  time  as  Lounsbury,  Math- 

?.;  327 


'T'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

ewson  &  Company.  His  younger  brother  has  been  for  a  long 
time  senior  member  of  the  firm. 

Governor  Lounsbury  demonstrated  his  patriotism  when  the 
Civil  War  commenced  by  enlisting  as  a  private  in  the  Seventeenth 
Connecticut  Volunteers.  His  army  experience  was  necessarily  brief, 
for  soon  after  reaching  the  front  he  was  taken  sick  with  typhoid 
fever;  and  after  being  in  the  service  four  months  he  was  honor- 
ably discharged.  Devoting  himself  to  his  business,  Lounsbury 
took  part  in  the  political  discussions  of  the  day  and  became  a 
prominent  man  in  the  Republican  party.  In  1874  he  was  elected 
a  representative  to  the  General  Assembly  from  the  town  of  Ridge- 
field,  and  became  one  of  the  leading  members  of  that  body.  In 
1880  he  was  a  presidential  elector,  and  did  a  great  amount  of  hard 
campaign  work  in  support  of  Garfield  and  Arthur.  Friends  of 
Lounsbury  put  his  name  forward  for  gubernatorial  honors  as  early 
as  1882,  and  his  candidacy  met  with  favor  in  his  home  county. 
In  the  Republican  State  Convention  of  1884  there  was  a  strong 
faction  in  favor  of  nominating  him  for  governor,  but  he  was  de- 
feated. Instead  of  taking  the  situation  as  many  men  might,  he 
set  to  work  to  elect  the  ticket.  It  has  been  said  that  his  manly 
20urse  at  this  time  was  a  great  factor  in  making  his  name  strong  at 
the  next  convention.  In  the  convention  of  1886  he  was  nomina- 
ted for  governor  and  was  elected  by  a  good  majority. 

Governor  Lounsbury  served  from    1887   to  1889,  and  left  a 

328 


The        Governors        of       Connecticut 

favorable  record  after  him.  Since  that  time  he  has  held  no  political 
office,  but  he  has  devoted  his  time  to  the  management  of  the 
Preferred  Accident  Insurance  Company  of  New^  York,  of  which  he  is 
president,  and  also  the  Merchants  Exchange  National  Bank.  He 
is  distinctly  a  business  man,  a  friend  of  the  day  laborer,  a  soldier, 
a  speaker  who  can  grace  any  occasion,  and  withal  a  thoroughly 
conscientious  Christian  gentleman. 

A  writer  has  called  Governor  Lounsbury  the  second  Bucking- 
ham for,  says  he :  "He  has  the  virtues  of  our  well-beloved  war 
governor,  and  like  him  coming  from  the  ranks  of  the  manufacturer 
and  the  church  and  home,  to  make  more  conspicuous  in  pubhc 
station  the  integrity  and  personal  purity,  that  are  the  surest  foun- 
dation of  Republican  institutions." 


329 


FIFTY -FIRST    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
MORGAN    G.    BULKELEY 

Born  in  East  Haddam,  son  of  one  of  Amer- 
ica's pioneer  families — He  began  his  career 
as  an  errand  boy  in  a  mercantile  house,  be- 
came confidential  clerk  and  then  a  partner 
— He  went  to  the  front  in  the  Civil  War,  and 
in  years  following  entered  finance  and  poli- 
tics, becoming  president  of  an  insurance 
company  which  has  developed  into  one  of  the 
soundest  financial  institutions  in  the  country, 
rising  through  many  political  honors  to 
the  governorship  and  United  States  Senate 


^-^^^^T^ 


V 


MORGAN 


GARDNER 


BULKELEY 


GOVERNOR  Bulkeley  is  a  member  of  one  of  Connecti- 
cut's most  distinguished  families,  and  his  ancestors  have 
taken  an  important  part  in  the  affairs  of  this  common- 
wealth. Peter  Bulkeley  was  born  in  England  in  1583  and  suc- 
ceeded his  father  in  the  ministry  at  Woodhull,  but  was  after- 
wards removed  for  non-conformity.  In  1635,  in  company  with 
a  number  of  friends,  he  founded  the  settlement  at  Concord  and 
was  its  first  minister.  He  died  in  1659  after  a  life  of  great 
usefulness. 

His  son,  the  Rev.  and  Hon.  Gershom  Bulkeley,  a  leading 
character  in  our  colonial  history,  married  the  daughter  of  Presi- 
dent Chauncy  of  Harvard  College.  Their  third  child  and 
eldest  son,  John  Bulkeley,  born  at  Colchester,  April  19,  1705, 
was  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1726.  He  practiced  law  and 
medicine  in  his  native  town,  and  during  the  forty-eight  years 
of  his  life  held  a  great  number  of  public  offices.  For  thirty-one 
sessions  he  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  a  member 

33 


The        Governors        of        Connecticut 

of  the  council,  judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  colonel  of  the 
Twelfth  Regiment  of  the  militia.  His  grandson,  Eliphalet,  was 
father  of  John  Charles  Bulkeley  of  Colchester,  and  grandfather 
of  Eliphalet  A.  Bulkeley  who  was  one  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  Connecticut.  Studying  law,  he  became  interested  in  finance ' 
and  politics,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Republican  party  in 
Connecticut,  and  its  first  speaker  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. He  organized  both  the  Connecticut  Mutual  and  Aetna 
Life  Insurance  Companies,  being  president  of  the  latter  at  the 
time  of  his  death  in  1872. 

His  son,  Morgan  Gardner  Bulkeley,  was  born  in  the  town 
of  East  Haddam  on  December  26,  1837.  He  removed  with 
his  father  to  Hartford  in  1846,  and  obtained  his  education  in 
the  district  schools  and  the  Hartford  High  School.  His  begin- 
nings in  life  were  of  a  humble  nature,  as  the  first  position  he 
held  was  that  of  an  errand  boy  in  a  mercantile  house  in  Brook- 
lyn, New  York.  This  was  in  1852,  and  his  progress  was  rapid, 
for  in  a  short  time  he  was  confidential  clerk,  and  in  a  few  years 
a  partner  in  the  concern.  When  the  Civil  War  opened 
Bulkeley  enlisted  in  the  Thirteenth  New  York  Regiment  and 
was  at  the  front  under  General  McClellan  during  the  Peninsu- 
lar campaign.  He  afterwards  served  under  General  Mansfield. 
The  elder  Bulkeley  died  in  1872,  and  Morgan  G.  Bulkeley 
then  removed  to  Hartford. 

334 


1^  h   e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

He  immediately  entered  into  the  financial  and  social  life  of  the 
city,  and  became  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  Hartford. 
To  the  founding  of  the  United  States  Bank  he  gave  much  time 
and  labor,  and  was  its  first  president.  Upon  the  retirement  of 
Thomas  Enders  from  the  presidency  of  the  Aetna  Life  Insur- 
ance Company,  Bulkeley  was  elected  as  his  successor,  thus 
becoming  its  third  president.  As  a  financier  he  always  had  an 
enviable  reputation  and  is  a  director  of  the  Willimantic  Linen 
Company,  the  Aetna  National  Bank,  and  several  other  success- 
ful corporations.  The  wonderful  success  of  the  Aetna  Life 
Insurance  Company  may  be  attributed  in  no  small  degree  to 
Bulkeley's  rare  business  ability,  both  as  a  manager  and  financier. 

Soon  after  his  removal  to  Hartford  he  began  to  take  a  keen 
interest  in  local  politics.  During  the  early  seventies  Bulkeley 
v/as  a  councilman  and  alderman  from  the  fourth  ward  and  in  1880 
was  elected  mayor  of  Hartford.  He  became  so  popular  in  this 
office  that  he  was  re-elected  three  times  thus  serving  four  terms, 
from  1880  to  1888. 

While  mayor  he  exercised  his  best  ability  to  transact  the  busi- 
ness of  the  city  in  an  economical  manner,  and  was  the  fearless  expo- 
nent of  measures  which  he  thought  to  be  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  city  irrespective  of  partisan  feeling.  Among  the  poorer  classes 
he  has  always  been  very  liberal  with  his  fortune  and  it  is  said,  that 
while  mayor  of  Hartford,  Bulkeley  gave  away  every  year  more 

335 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

than  he  received  as  his  salary.  His  administration  as  mayor  was  so 
successful  that  his  friends  thought  him  a  desirable  candidate  for 
governor.  In  1886  Bulkeley's  name  was  presented  to  the  Repub- 
lican State  Convention  but  the  enthusiasm  over  Lounsburv 
was  so  great  that  solely  in  the  interest  of  good  feeling  the  former 
withdrew  from  the  gubernatorial  contest.  He  supported  Louns- 
bury  in  the  campaign  that  followed,  and  in  1888  was  nominated 
by  acclamation  for  governor  of  the  state  amid  great  enthusiasm. 
Bulkeley  was  elected  and  took  his  seat  January  10,  1889.  His 
administration  was  characterized  by  a  vigorous  determination  on  the 
part  of  the  chief  executive  to  serve  the  state  as  well  as  possible. 
General  Merwin  was  nominated  in  1890  and  at  the  election  which 
followed,  the  first  under  the  present  secret  ballot  law,  the  result 
showed  such  a  close  vote  that  there  was  considerable  doubt  as  to 
who  was  the  victor.  The  returns  were  not  accepted  by  the  offi- 
cials as  conclusive,  or  by  the  House  of  Representatives.  A  long, 
dreary  contest  followed  and  as  the  General  Assembly  failed  to  settle 
the  question  of  gubernatorial  succession,  Governor  Bulkeley,  acting 
under  the  constitution,  remained  in  office  and  exercised  the  duties 
of  governor  for  the  next  two  years.  He  retired  from  the  office  when 
his  successor  was  duly  elected  and  inducted  into  office  in  1893. 
Governor  Bulkeley  was  elected  United  States  senator  to  succeed 
General  Joseph  R.  Hawley  in  January,  1905,  and  took  his  seat  in 
March  of  the  same  year.     His  speech  of  acceptance  uttered  in  the 

336 


T'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  was  one  of  the  most  appro- 
priate and  eloquent  efforts  heard  by  a  Connecticut  General  Assembly 
in  many  years.  Governor  Bulkeley  is  still  a  resident  of  Hartford 
where  he  is  honored  as  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  city. 

He  is  a  member  of  Massachusetts  Commandery  Loyal 
Legion;  Robert  O.  Tyler  Post,  G.  A.  R,;  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution;  Connecticut  Society  of  the  War  of  1812;  Colonial 
War  Society;  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  Union  League  Club 
of  New  York  City,  and  many  of  the  other  patriotic  and  learned 
organizations  of  the  country. 


337 


'The 

FIFTY- SECOND  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

zvas 

LUZON    B.    MORRIS 

Born  in  Newtown,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
learned  the  trade  of  blacksmith  and  tool  maker 
—At  twenty-one  he  used  his  earnings  to 
secure  an  education  at  the  Connecticut  Liter- 
ary Institute  and  Yale  College— Choosing  law 
as  a  profession,  he  entered  politics  and  began 
his  long  and  eminently  successful  career  in 
public  life;  gained  distinction  as  an  author- 
ity on  probate  law  and  secured  an  extensive 
practice  in  the   settlement  of  estates 


c=i^j^yU^(n^    ^J.    MXiOO''*-^ 


LUZON 


B     U     R     R     E     T     T 


MORRIS 


LUZON  B.  Morr'  .  the  son  of  Eli   G.  Morris  of  New- 

town, and  was  born  in  that  town  on  April  16,  1827,  He 
attended  the  district  school,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
commenced  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  blacksmith  and  tool  maker. 
During  the  next  four  years  the  young  man  worked  hard  and 
saved  his  money,  having  one  object  in  view,  and  that  was  to 
obtain  a  good  education.  At  twenty-one  he  had  accumulated  suffi- 
cient means  to  enable  him  to  begin  studying.  He  entered  the 
Connecticut  Literary  Institute  of  Suffield  and  prepared  for  Yale 
College,  which  he  entered  in  1850.  He  would  have  been  grad- 
uated in  1854,  ^^^  ^°^  some  reason  he  left  college  during  his 
senior  year  and  did  not  receive  his  degree  until  four  years  later. 
After  leaving  college  he  went  to  the  town  of  Seymour,  where 
he  engaged  for  a  short  time  in  the  manufacturing  business,  at 
the  same  time  studying  law.  In  1855  he  became  a  student  at 
the  Yale  Law  School,  and  after  pursuing  his  studies  there  one 
year  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Morris  returned  at  once  to 
Seymour,    where    he    began   the    practice   of  law.     The    popular 

341 


1^  h  e        Governors       of       Connect  ic   71    t 

confidence  in  his  ability  was  very  marked  from  the  first.  In 
1855  and  1856  he  represented  Seymour  in  the  General  Assem- 
bly with  great  success.  He  removed  to  New  Haven  in  1857  ^^^ 
made  that  city  his  home  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Then 
began  his  long  and  eminently  successful  career  in  public  life. 
Morris  was  elected  judge  of  probate  for  the  New  Haven  district 
for  six  successive  terms,  from  1857  ^^  1863,  and  in  1861  became  a 
member  of  the  New  Haven  Board  of  Education,  which  position  he 
held  for  a  long  time.  He  was  elected  representative  from  New 
Haven  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1870,  1876,  1880  and  1881. 
In  1874  he  served  as  senator  from  his  district  and  was  president 
pro  tern,  during  that  session. 

During  the  period  that  Judge  Morris  was  serving  in  the 
Legislature  he  carried  on  his  extensive  law  practice,  which  con- 
sisted in  a  large  measure  in  the  management  and  settlement  of 
estates.  This  necessarily  entailed  a  vast  amount  of  labor,  yet  Judge 
Morris  was  able  to  serve  both  ends  in  an  able  manner.  His  long 
experience  as  judge  of  the  New  Haven  Probate  Court,  made  him 
unusually  well  qualified  for  the  settlement  of  estates.  Any  estate 
that  was  placed  in  his  hands  received  the  same  careful  attention, 
no  matter  whether  it  was  that  of  a  poor  farmer  or  Daniel  Hand, 
the  millionaire. 

In  1880  Judge  Morris  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee to  permanently  settle    the  boundary   controversy   between 

342 


1'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Connecticut  and  New  York.  A  committee  was  formed  in  1884  to 
evise  the  probate  laws  of  the  state,  and  Judge  Morris  was  appointed 
its  chairman.  Having  always  been  a  pronounced  Democrat, 
Judge  Morris  became  the  candidate  of  that  party  for  governor  of 
the  state  in  1890.  In  the  election  which  followed  he  received  a 
plurality,  but  not  a  majority,  over  his  opponent,  General  Merwin ; 
and  in  the  deadlock  which  followed.  Governor  Bulkeley  held  over 
his  term  until  1892.  Much  partisan  excitement  was  aroused 
during  these  years  of  controversy,  but  Judge  Morris  remained  per- 
fectly conservative  and  very  dignified.  He  was  renominated  for 
the  same  office  in  1892  and  received  82,787  votes  at  the  polls, 
6,042  more  than  General  Merwin,  the  Republican  candidate.  Gov- 
ernor Morris  served  from  1893  ^^  ^^95  ^^^  reflected  credit  upon  his 
party,  although  his  administration  was  a  very  quiet  one.  During  his 
second  year  as  chief  executive  Governor  Morris  was  made  a  director 
of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford  Railroad  Company. 

After  retiring  from  the  governorship  he  again  took  up  his 
practice  of  law.  He  was  enjoying  apparent  good  health,  but  on  the 
morning  of  August  22,  1895,  Governor  Morris  was  stricken  with 
apoplexy  while  at  work  in  his  office.  He  was  removed  to  his 
home  but  died  soon  after  reaching  there.  He  left  a  widow  and 
several  children,  one  of  whom,  Robert  Tuttle  Morris,  is  a  well- 
known  New  York  surgeon;  a  daughter  is  the  wife  of  President 
Arthur  T.  Hadley  of  Yale  University. 

343 


FIFTY-THIRD  GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

ivas 
OWEN     VINCENT      COFFIN 

His  early  days  were  spent  on  his  father's  farm 
in  Mansfield,  New  York,  where  he  was  born  — 
After  leaving  the  seminary  he  taught  school, 
and  later  became  a  salesman  in  a  wholesale 
mercantile  house,  subsequently  a  partner  in  a 
successful  firm,  and  then  a  banker,  insurance 
president,  and  executive  in  a  score  of  public 
and  quasi-public  interests — In  his  election  to 
governorship  he  received  highest  vote  ever 
reached    by   any  candidate    up  to    that  time 


OWEN 

VINCENT 

COFFIN 


WEN  Vincent  CofRn  was  born  in  Mansfield,  Dutchess 
County,  New  York,  June  20,  1836;  descending  from 
Tristram  Coffin,  who  emigrated  from  England  in  1642,  set- 
tled in  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  and  in  1660  went  to  Nantucket 
where  he  was  a  sort  of  William  Penn  among  the  Indians  of  the 
island,  dying  there  in  1681.  A  homestead  at  Portledge,  in  Devon- 
shire, England,  has  been  held  by  members  of  the  Coffin  family  for 
centuries. 

Governor  Coffin  is  the  son  of  Alexander  Coffin  and  Jane 
Vincent,  and  is  a  descendant  in  the  seventh  generation  from 
Tristram  Coffin  mentioned  above.  He  passed  his  early  days  on 
his  father's  farm,  and  was  educated  at  the  Courtland  Academy 
and  the  Charlotteville  Seminary.  After  leaving  the  seminary  he 
taught  school  and  then  removed  to  New  York  City,  where  he 
was  a  salesman  in  a  wholesale  mercantile  house.  From  the  age 
of  nineteen  to  twenty-five  he  acted  as  the  New  York  representative 
of  a  large  Connecticut  manufacturer.     He  subsequently  became 

347 


*'T 


'The       Governors        of       Connecticut 

a    special    partner    In    a    very   successful    firm    in    New   York- 
He  married  the  daughter  of  Linus  Coe  (>f  Middletown  in  1858, 
and  removed  to  that  city  in   1864. 

When  Civil  War  threatened  the  nation  he  was  anxious  to 
enlist  but  was  excluded  from  doing  so  on  account  of  his  inability 
to  pass  the  physical  examination.  He  was  patriotically  inspired, 
however;  sent  a  substitute,  and  aided  the  cause  in  every  way  he 
could. 

Soon  after  settling  in  Middletown  his  rare  managerial  ability 
was  recognized,  and  he  became  the  active  executive  officer  of  the 
Farmers  and  Mechanics  Savings  Bank.  This  position  he  held  for 
fifteen  years,  when  ill  health  compelled  him  to  retire.  He  was 
mayor  of  Middletown  in  1872  and  1873  and  made  a  popular 
official.  His  health  having  returned,  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  Middlesex  Mutual  Assurance  Company,  an  office  he  still  holds. 
He  has  been  president  of  the  Middlesex  County  Agricultural 
Society,  and  later  was  a  director  and  vice-president  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Middletown. 

Coffin  was  elected  senator  from  the  twenty-second  district  in 
1886,  and  again  in  1888,  thus  serving  two  terms.  He  received  a 
good  majority  in  a  district  where  there  had  been  only  two  Repub- 
lican victories  in  a  generation. 

Governor  Coffin  was  never  a  seeker  for  public  office,  but  many 
have  been  thrust  upon  him.     From  1890  to  1895  he  held  over  a 

348 


'T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 


score  of  public  and  quasi-public  offices,  among  which  was  the 
treasurer  of  the  Air  Line  Railroad  Company.  He  filled  all  these 
offices  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

In  1894  the  Republicans  of  the  state  nominated  Coffin  for 
governor,  and  his  popularity  was  abundantly  demonstrated  at  the 
following  election,  when  he  received  83,974  votes,  and  a  plurality 
of  17,000  over  Cady,  the  Democratic  nominee.  This  was  the 
highest  vote  ever  reached  by  any  candidate  for  a  governor  of 
Connecticut  up  to  that  time. 

Governor  Coffin  served  from  1895  to  1897,  ^^^  although  his 
administration  was  uneventful,  he  impressed  the  people  of  the  state 
as  being  an  able  chief  executive. 

At  this  writing  in  November,  1905,  Governor  Coffin  still  lives 
in  Middletown  and  is  one  of  Connecticut's  representative  men. 
"Anyone  who  has  been  fortunate  enough  to  meet  this  genial, 
whole-souled  ex-governor,"  says  a  writer,  "  will  not  soon  forget  the 
cordial  handshake  and  the  pleasant  words  of  welcome  he  has  for  all." 


349 


"The 
FIFTY-FOURTH   GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
LORRIN     A.COOKE 

Born  in  Massachusetts,  and  began  his  career 
as  a  school  teacher,  later  becoming  a  prosperous 
manufacturer — He  entered  public  life  at  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years  when  he  was  elected 
to  the  General  Assembly,  and  progressed 
through  the  various  political  capacities  to 
president  pro  tem.  of  State  Senate;  lieu- 
tenant governor  to  the  governorship  —  His 
public  services  also  led  him  to  honors  from 
religious  bodies  and  many  recognitions  of 
trust  which  he  discharged  conscientiously 


^l/^'^''/fy(^C\^0(rm 


L     O     R     R     I     N 


A     L     A     N     S     O     N 


COOKE 


SOLOMON     Cooke,    the    great-grandfather     of    Lorrin    A. 
Cooke,  was  a  soldier  in  the    Continental  Army,  and  his  son, 

Lewis  Cooke,  served  in  the  War  of  1812.  Another  ancestor, 
Benjamin  Wheeler,  was  the  first  white  settler  in  New  Marlboro, 
Massachusetts,  and  a  prominent  citizen  of  Berkshire  County. 

Lorrin  A.  Cooke  was  born  in  New  Marlboro,  April  6,  1831, 
and  when  quite  young  his  father  removed  with  the  family  to  Nor- 
folk, Connecticut.  The  young  man  attended  the  district  schools  of 
the  town  and  afterwards  received  a  good  academical  education  at 
Norfolk  Academy.  During  his  early  manhood  Cooke  was  a 
very  successful  school  teacher.  He  first  entered  pubhc  life  in  1856, 
when  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years  he  was  elected  representative 
to  the  General  Assembly  from  the  town  ot  Colebrook. 

In  1869  he  was  chosen  secretar}%  treasurer  and  manager  of 
the  Eagle  Scythe  Company  of  Riverton,  and  continued  in  that 
capacity    for    the  next     twenty    years.       Cooke    was    a    senator 

353 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

from  the  eighteenth  district  in  1882,  1883  and  1884,  and 
during  the  last  session  served  as  president  pro  tern,  of  that  body. 
While  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  Cooke  was  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Engrossed  Bills,  a  position  which 
attracts  little  public  attention  but  calls  for  a  vast  amount  of  labor. 
He  was  appointed  by  the  Senate  a  special  committee  to  make  an 
investigation  of  certain  affairs  in  connection  with  the  Storrs  Agri- 
cultural School. 

He  was  postmaster  in  his  town  in  the  early  eighties.  In  1885 
he  was  elected  lieutenant  governor  of  the  state  on  the  Republican 
ticket.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  same  position  in  1895  on  the 
ticket  with  Coffin. 

Always  taking  a  great  interest  in  religious  matters,  Cooke 
was  chosen  moderator  of  the  National  Congregational  Council 
held  in  Chicago  in  1886.  He  was  chosen  a  delegate  at  large  to 
the  Republican  National  Convention  at  Minneapolis  in  1892. 

In  1896  Cooke  was  elected  governor  of  Connecticut^ 
receiving  108,807  votes  against  56,524  for  the  silver  Democratic 
candidate.  This  Republican  majority  of  over  52,000  was  the 
largest  that  a  candidate  of  that  party  had  ever  received  in  this 
state.  This  unprecedented  flood  of  ballots  was  proof  of  his  undi- 
minished popularity  throughout  the  state.  He  served  the  state 
well  and  retired  in  1899,  after  having  conducted  a  most  successful 
administration. 

354 


T"  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

Governor  Cooke  occupied  no  public  ofBces  after  his  retire- 
ment. He  died  at  his  home  in  Winsted,  August  12,  1903.  A 
newspaper  writer  summed  up  his  career  as  follows : 

"In  the  death  of  Lorrin  A.  Cooke  the  State  of  Connecticut 
loses  a  loyal  son.  Beginning  as  a  poor  boy  with  limited  acquaint- 
ance and  only  such  opportunity  as  he  might  make  for  himself, 
he  became  a  man  of  prominence  and  influence,  trusted  by  his  fel- 
low citizens  to  do  much  important  work  for  them  and  finally 
chosen  by  them  to  hold  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people. 
His  strength  lay  in  the  confidence  people  felt  in  him.  They  knew 
that  he  was  a  God-fearing,  Christian  man,  desirous  to  do  right, 
and  not  afraid  of  duty  as  it  disclosed  itself  to  him.  Whatever  was 
entrusted  to  him  to  do  was  done  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  and  when 
he  had  satisfactorily  discharged  one  responsibility  another  was  sure 
to  be  laid  upon  him.  It  may  be  doubted  by  his  friends  whether 
the  two  years  of  his  governorship  were  the  pleasantest  of  his 
life.  Its  burdens  and  responsibilities  are  a  constant  load  upon  the 
conscientious  occupant  of  the  office — and  he  fully  realized  what 
they  were.  Socially,  Governor  Cooke  was  approachable,  cordial 
and  democratic.  Everybody  knew  him  and  he  had  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  a  wide  circle  of  devoted  friends." 


355 


FIFTY-FIFTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
GEORGE     E.     LOUNSBURY 

The  son  of  a  Connecticut  family,  tem- 
porarily residing  in  New  York  State — His 
parents  removed  to  Ridgefield  -when  he  was 
less  than  one  year  old — At  seventeen  years 
of  age  he  became  a  school  teacher,  working 
on  his  father's  farm  during  the  summer, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty,  entirely  self- 
prepared,  entered  Yale  College  where 
he  was  graduated  with  honors  —  He  then 
became  a  clergyman,  and  later  a  manu- 
facturer— During  a  period  of  twenty-seven 
years  he  persistently  refused  political  office 


c7£ir)^e.     ^, 


GEORGE 


EDWARD 


LOUNSBURY 


THE  second  Governor  Lounsbury  was  born  on  May  7,  1838, 
in  the  town  of  Pound  Ridge,  Westchester  County,  New- 
York,  where  his  father  and  mother  were  temporarily  Hving. 
He  was  the  fifth  child  of  Nathan  and  Delia  Scofield  Lounsbury,  and 
brother  of  ex-Governor  Phineas  C.  Lounsbury.  All  of  his  imme- 
diate ancestors  were  natives  of  Stamford,  and  Governor  Lounsbury 
was  in  reality  a  native  of  this  state.  His  parents  removed  to 
Ridgefield  when  their  son  was  less  than  a  year  old,  and  since  that 
time  he  made  the  town  his  home.  For  over  sixty  years  he  resided 
in  the  farm  house  that  his  father  owned  before  him.  He  attended 
the  district  school  and  received  all  the  training  that  the  ordi- 
nary country  school  was  capable  of  in  those  days.  When  seven- 
teen years  of  age  the  youth  commenced  to  teach  school,  and 
followed  the  occupation  three  winters,  working  on  his  father's  farm 
in  summer  and  studying  during  his  spare  time.  At  the  age  of 
twenty,  entirely  self-prepared,  Lounsbury  entered  Yale  Col- 
lege, where  he  gained  a  reputation  for  being  a  thorough  student. 

359 


T'  h  e        Governors       of       Connecticut 

His  career  at  Yale  was  quite  brilliant  and  he  was  graduated  in 
1863  with  high  honors.  Although  the  parents  of  Lounsbury 
were  Methodists,  he  embraced  the  Episcopal  faith  and  entered  the 
Berkeley  Divinity  School  at  Middletown  to  prepare  for  the  minis- 
try. He  was  graduated  from  that  institution  in  1866,  and  for  a 
year  or  more  had  charge  of  the  Episcopal  churches  in  Suffield  and 
Thompsonville.  A  member  of  his  congregation  says:  "He 
is  still  remembered  for  the  eloquence  of  his  sermons  and  the  kind- 
heartedness  of  his  parish  work.  A  swelling  of  the  muscles  of  the 
throat,  brought  on  by  over-training  in  elocution  and  threatening  to 
become  chronic,  caused  him  to  refuse  to  take  the  vows  of  priest- 
hood and  to  enter  upon  a  career  of  business." 

Clergyman  Lounsbury  formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother, 
Phineas  C.  Lounsbury,  and  began  the  manufacture  of  shoes  in 
New  Haven.  Later  the  concern  removed  to  South  Norwalk, 
where  the  business  has  been  successfully  carried  on  for  many  years, 
and  he  became  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Lounsbury, 
Mathewson  &  Company. 

During  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years,  Lounsbury  persistently 
refused  to  accept  any  political  office,  but  in  1894  he  was  nomi- 
nated for  senator  in  the  twelfth  district.  His  popularity  was 
demonstrated  at  the  election  that  fall  which  resulted  in  a  victory  for 
him  of  over  1,300  majority.  During  the  session  of  1895  he  was 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  "which,"  says  a  prominent 
360 


'T!  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

newspaper,  "was  distinguished  for  its  ability  and  the  unanimity  with 
which  its  reports  were  accepted  by  both  houses  of  the  Legis- 
lature." 

He  was  re-elected  in  1896  by  over  2,700  majority,  which 
was  a  larger  vote  than  any  other  Republican  candidate  received  in 
his  district.  He  also  ran  considerably  ahead  of  the  McKinley 
election,  a  record  that  was  equalled  only  by  one  other  senator  in 
Connecticut.  In  the  session  of  1897  Lounsbury  was  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Humane  Institutions.  He  distinguished  him- 
self to  such  an  extent  that  the  Republican  leaders  saw  in  him  the 
most  desirable  candidate  for  governor,  and  at  the  convention  held 
in  August  at  New  Haven,  Lounsbury  was  accordingly  nominated 
for  that  high  office. 

In  the  election  which  followed,  Lounsbury  received  81,015" 
votes  against  64,227  for  Daniel  N.  Morgan,  the  Democratic  can- 
didate. He  was  inaugurated  governor  of  Connecticut  on  January 
4,  1899,  and  served  the  state  acceptably  for  two  years,  retiring  on 
January  9,  1901. 

The  "Hartford  Courant"  said  in  1902  of  Governor  Louns- 
bury: "His  home  is  that  of  a  thrifty,  well-to-do  farmer.  Wealth, 
which  would  have  been  spent  by  many  men  in  more  showy  ways  of 
living,  has  been  used  by  him  in  helping  the  poor.  He  has  not  been 
conspicuous  in  large  donations  to  rich  churches  or  to  the  fashion- 
able charities  of  the  day,  but  has  rather  sought  the  needy  and  helped 

361 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

them  over  the  rough,  hard  places.  There  are  scores  of  families 
who  have  had  a  better  life,  because  he  has  been  content  with  his 
simple  style  of  living." 

Governor  Lounsbury  was  one  of  the  most  companionable  of 
men,  and  his  simple,  unaffected  cordiality  won  for  him  a  vast  circle 
of  friends  and  admirers.  He  died  in  August,  1904,  at  his  home 
in  Ridgefield,  and  was  buried  in  that  town.  By  his  will  he  made 
several  public  bequests. 


!62 


FIFTY-SIXTH     GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

was 
GEORGE     P.      McLean 

Born  in  Simsbury,  and  after  attending  the  district 
school  in  that  town,  he  was  graduated  from  the 
Hartford  High  School  and  began  life  as  a  news- 
paper reporter  —  Deciding  upon  the  profession 
of  law,  he  enter  e,d  an  attorney's  ofSce  and 
prepared  himself  for  the  bar— At  twenty- 
six  years  of  age  he  was  elected  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  —  At  twenty-eight  years  of  age 
lie  became  a  leader  in  the  State  Senate,  and 
a  brilliant  record  led  him  on  to  the  governor- 
ship, where  he  attained  reputation  as  a  statesman 


■  P.^HA^^i 


t(Z<A^ 


GEORGE 


PAYNE 


M  c  L  E  A  N 


GEORGE  Payne  McLean  was  born  in  Simsbury  on  Octo- 
ber 7,  1857.     ^^^  father,  Dudley  B.  McLean,  was  a  leading 
farmer,  and  the  governor's  grandfather,  Rev.  Allen  McLean, 
was  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  the  same  town  for  over 
half  a  century. 

The  McLeans  have  been  prominent  in  the  history  of  Simsbury 
from  the  colonial  period  and  the  name  has  long  been  an  honored 
one  in  that  section.  Governor  McLean's  mother,  Mary  Payne, 
was  a  daughter  of  Solomon  Payne,  a  man  of  prominence  in  Wind- 
ham County,  and  a  direct  descendant  from  Governor  William 
Bradford  and  Captain  John  Mason.  The  boy  attended  the 
public  schools  of  Simsbury  during  the  winters  of  his  boyhood  and 
labored  on  his  father's  farm  in  the  summers.  When  he  had  com- 
pleted the  course  of  study  offered  by  the  Simsbury  schools,  he  went 
to  Hartford  and  became  a  student  in  the  High  School  of  that  city. 
He  was  chosen  editor  of  the  school  paper  during  his  junior  year 
and  exhibited  at  that  early  age  ample  manifestation  of  his  pro- 

365 


'^  h   e        Governors        of       Connecticut 

nounced  ability.  Graduating  from  the  High  School  in  1877, 
McLean  entered  the  office  of  the  "Hartford  Post"  where  he  became 
a  reporter  at  a  salary  of  seven  dollars  a  week.  He  did  much  good 
work  for  that  paper  and  remained  on  the  staff  for  two  years, 
but  finding  the  life  unattractive  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
law.  McLean  then  entered  the  law  office  of  the  late  lamented 
Henry  C.  Robinson  at  Hartford.  While  pursuing  his  studies,  he 
supported  himself  by  keeping  books  for  Trinity  College  for  which 
he  received  $300  a  year.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Hartford 
in  1881,  thoroughly  fitted  for  the  profession  as  has  been  demon- 
strated by  his  subsequent  career.  A  writer  has  said  of  McLean: 
"  Embracing  this  profession,  he  made  no  mistake.  It  is  exactly 
suited  to  his  temperament.  He  has  the  mind  of  an  advocate  and  of 
a  jurist  as  well.  He  is  able  to  get  all  there  is  in  a  case;  he  prepares 
his  cases  thoroughly  and  is  an  able  cross-examiner." 

When  he  began  to  practice  law,  McLean  continued  in 
the  Robinson  law  office,  but  lived  in  Simsbury  where  he  had 
always  made  his  home.  His  law  practice  grew  rapidly  and  he  soon 
became  not  only  a  leading  lawyer,  but  one  of  the  Republican  lead- 
ers. Although  very  young,  he  was  successful  in  "  holding  his  own 
against  all  comers,"  as  a  writer  remarked.  He  was  elected  a  Repub- 
lican member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Simsbury 
in  1883.  His  career  in  the  Legislature  was  uncommonly  brilliant 
for  so  young  a  man,  and  he  made  a  record  there  that  was  not  soon 

366 


'^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

forgotten.  He  was  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  State's  Prison, 
and  was  instrumental  in  making  a  radical  change  in  the  methods  of 
hearing  petitions  for  pardons  from  the  prisoners.  He  prepared  a 
bill  which  provided  for  the  present  Board  of  Pardons,  consisting  of 
the  governor  ex-officio,  the  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 
certain  other  members  of  the  bench,  a  doctor  and  sundry  citizens. 
Previous  to  this,  all  petitions  from  inmates  of  the  prison  were  heard 
by  the  General  Assembly.  His  bill  met  with  speedy  approval 
and  acceptance;  the  board  was  organized  in  the  fall  of  1884; 
McLean  was  made  its  clerk  and  remained  in  that  position  until  he 
was  elected  governor.  In  1885  Governor  Henry  B.  Harrison, 
remembering  the  fine  legislative  work  of  McLean,  appointed  him 
on  a  commission  to  revise  the  statute  law  of  the  state.  Although 
only  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  he  ably  performed  this  delicate  task. 
His  associates  on  the  commission  were  judges:  James  A.  Hovey, 
Augustus  H.  Fenn  and  R.  J.  Walsh.  McLean  was  induced 
to  enter  the  field  in  1885  ^^^  ^^  nomination  as  senator  in  the  third 
senatorial  district.  He  was  duly  nominated,  elected  by  a  large 
majority  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  in  1886,  where  he  at  once 
became  a  leader.  McLean  was  a  prominent  speaker  in  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1888,  and  to  him  was  due  much  of  the 
credit  for  the  Republican  majority  in  Connecticut. 

In  1890  he  became  the  candidate  for  secretary  of  state  on  the 
Republican  ticket,  but  as  that  was  the  year  of  the  famous  "dead- 

367 


'^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticvt 

lock,"  McLean  was  not  elected.  The  entire  Connecticut  con- 
gressional delegation  recommended  McLean  for  United  States 
attorney  in  1892,  and  President  Harrison  appointed  him  to  that 
position.  He  filled  the  office  for  four  years  and  did  so  well  that  he 
won  for  the  government  every  criminal  case  that  was  tried,  and 
every  civil  case  except  one.  During  this  period  he  was  also  coun- 
sel for  the  state  comptroller  and  for  the  state  treasurer,  and  repre- 
sented the  state  in  the  action  brought  by  the  corporation  of  Yale 
University  .in  1893,  seeking  to  enjoin  the  state  treasurer  from  pay- 
ing to  Storrs  Agricultural  College  any  part  of  the  funds  accruing 
to  the  State  of  Connecticut  under  certain  congressional  enactments 
of  1862  and  1890.  "  McLean's  professional  work  in  the  conduct  of 
these  cases,"  says  Joseph  L.  Barbour,  "  and  in  the  preparation  of  the 
argument  before  the  commission  was  of  the  highest  order,  won  for 
him  the  commendation  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  state,  and 
resulted  in  a  substantial  victory  for  the  cause."  McLean's  name 
was  put  forward  early  in  1900  for  the  Republican  nomination  for 
governor  and  he  received  the  same  in  the  convention  which  met  in 
New  Haven  on  September  5th.  When  being  informed  of  his  nomi- 
nation, McLean  went  to  the  convention  hall  and  made  a  short 
speech,  which  was  pronounced  at  the  time  to  be  "a  masterpiece  of 
tact  and  eloquence,  exactly  suited  to  the  somewhat  peculiar  con- 
ditions of  the  moment." 

McLean  said  in  part:  "The  information  which  I  have  just 

368 


T'  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

received  at  the  hands  of  your  committee  is  dearer  to  me  than  any- 
thing else  I  have  ever  heard,  or  shall  hear,  until  I  am  notified  of 
my  election.  It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  express  to  you,  and 
to  each  and  every  one  of  you,  my  gratitude.  I  am  the  candidate 
of  the  best  party  on  earth,  and  for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of 
the  people  of  the  best  state  in  the  Union.  You  have  put  your  con- 
fidence in  me;  you  have  conferred  upon  me  a  great  honor  and  a 
sacred  trust.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  that  if  elected  I  shall 
be  elected  without  pledge  or  promise  to  any  man  save  the  one  I 
shall  make  to  every  citizen  of  Connecticut,  without  regard  to  party, 
when  1  take  the  oath  of  office.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  that 
my  sole  hope  and  effort  will  be  to  keep  unspotted  before  God  and 
man  the  bright  shield  of  the  state  I  love.  1  don't  pretend  to  be 
better  than  my  fellow-man.  My  life  has  its  blunders  and  its  regrets. 
There  are  thousands  of  men  in  Connecticut  as  well  qualified,  and 
better  than  I  am,  to  hold  the  office  that  I  aspire  to,  and  shining 
among  that  number  is  the  distinguished  gentleman  (Hon.  Donald 
T.  Warner)  who  opposed  me  in  this  convention." 

During  the  campaign,  McLean  was  enthusiastically  received 
by  audiences  in  all  parts  of  the  state.  At  the  following  election  he 
was  elected  by  a  large  majority,  receiving  95,822  votes  to  81,421 
for  Judge  Bronson,  the  Democratic  candidate.  He  was  inaugurated 
governor  of  Connecticut,  before  a  vast  audience,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  on  Wednesday,  January  9,  1901.     As  governor  of 

369 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

this  commonwealth,  McLean  fulfilled  all  the  predictions  his  most 
ardent  admirers  claimed  for  him,  and  he  was  universally  admired  in 
every  portion  of  the  state.  In  "Judge's  History  of  the  Republican 
Party,"  is  this  tribute  to  Governor  McLean:  "McLean  is  a  young  man 
of  sterling  character  and  of  amiable  disposition.  He  is  always  open 
and  above  board  in  dealings  with  his  fellows,  and  can  be  relied 
upon  in  every  particular.  His  success  is  the  result  of  application 
and  ability,  and  when  this  is  truthfully  said  of  any  man  it  is  a  say- 
ing of  which  he  may  well  be  proud.  No  man  can  succeed  who 
does  not  have  qualification  or  who  does  not  enjoy  to  a  marked 
degree  the  confidence  of  the  community.  A  man  must  hew  his  way 
to  the  top,  but  he  cannot  succeed  even  so  unless  he  has  a  character 
behind  the  hewing.  McLean  is  always  affable  and  approachable. 
These  in  any  one  are  desirable  attributes  much  more  so  in  any  one 
who  strives  to  be  a  leader  at  the  bar  or  in  the  public  life,  and  to 
represent  the  people  in  important  capacities.  And  then,  too, 
McLean  is  one  of  the  most  eloquent  of  men.  It  is  a  delight  to 
listen  to  his  orations.  His  words  have  that  sincere  ring  which  must 
be  true  of  any  eloquence,  and  they  are  aptly  chosen.  The  strength 
of  fact  and  argument  are  these,  and  so  is  the  beautiful  form  without 
which  much  of  the  power  is  lost.  If  McLean  had  no  further  record 
to  leave  than  the  one  he  has  already  made,  Simsbury  and  Hartford 
would  have  the  right  to  enroll  him  high  on  its  list  of  worthies,  but 
it  is  prophesied  by  citizens  of  acute  observation  that  he  is  certain 
to  be  chosen  to  even  higher  places  of  usefulness." 

37^ 


FIFTY-SEVENTH   GOVERNOR 

of 

CONNECTICUT 

was 
ABIRAM    CHAMBERLAIN 

A  thorough  business  man,  representative  of 
the  old  New  Englander— He  was  born  in  Cole- 
brook,  the  son  of  a  civil  engineer  and  farmer— 
For  a  time  he  worked  for  his  father,  and  then 
learned  the  trade  of  rule  making— Later  he  be- 
came a  bank  clerk,  bank  teller,  cashier  and 
finally  bank  p  r  esid  e  n  t  — His  first  public 
service  was  in  the  Common  Council  at  Meri- 
den,  and  later  in  the  General  Assembly  — 
As  state  comptroller  he  established  a  business 
record  which  led  to  his  election  as  governor 


A     B     I     R     A     M 


CHAMBERLAIN 


ABIRAM  Chamberlain  is  a  fine  example  of  the  self-made  man 
and  his  career  in  business  is  similar  in  its  results  to  that  of 
Huntington,  the  elder  Griswold  and  English,  all  famous 
predecessors  in  the  important  office  of  chief  executive  of  this 
commonwealth.  He  comes  from  the  best  New  England  stock. 
On  his  paternal  side  he  is  descended  from  Jacob  Chamberlain,  who 
was  born  in  Newtown,  now  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  in  1673, 
and  on  the  maternal  side  he  is  a  descendant  in  the  eighth  gen- 
eration from  Henry  Burt  of  Roxbury,  Massachusetts.  His  father's 
name  was  Deacon  Abiram  Chamberlain,  and  he  was  for  many  years 
a  resident  of  Colebrook  River,  with  a  reputation  for  goodness  and 
uprightness  that  was  a  byword  for  many  miles  in  each  direction 
Deacon  Chamberlain  was  a  civil  engineer  and  farmer,  and  his  abil- 
ity in  the  former  profession  was  marked  and  well  known.  Governor 
Chamberlain  was  born  at  Colebrook  River  on  December  7,  1837, 
and  spent  his  early  years  in  that  town  where  he  attended  the  public 
schools.  Later  he  studied  at  Williston  Seminary,  at  Easthampton, 
Massachusetts,  and  made  a  special  study  of  civil  engineering.  In 
1856,  Governor  Chamberlain's  father  and  the  rest  of  the  family 

373 


'The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

removed  from  Colebrook  River  to  New  Britain,  then  a  growing  vil- 
lage. The  governor  took  up  civil  engineering  for  a  time  in  com- 
pany with  his  father.  Then  he  learned  the  trade  of  rule  making; 
but  his  career  in  life  was  not  destined  to  be  at  a  factory  bench,  but 
in  the  more  important  world  of  finance. 

When  a  young  man  he  entered  the  New  Britain  National 
Bank,  commenced  in  a  subordinate  position  and  was  soon  teller  of 
the  institution,  an  office  he  held  with  success  for  five  years.  His 
ability  as  a  banker  was  such  that  at  the  age  of  thirty,  in  1867, 
he  was  elected  cashier  of  the  Home  National  Bank  of  Meriden, 
and  he  then  removed  to  the  city. 

His  career  in  the  Meriden  bank  and  his  extensive  finan- 
cial experience  of  many  years  has  made  him  one  of  the  leading 
bankers,  not  only  of  the  state,  but  of  New  England  as  well.  Dur- 
ing the  time  that  he  has  been  connected  with  the  Home  National 
Bank,  Governor  Chamberlain  has  also  been  deeply  interested  in 
other  financial  institutions  of  Meriden  and  has  been  for  some  time 
vice-president  of  the  Meriden  Savings  Bank, 

On  the  death  of  Eli  Butler  in  1881,  Governor  Chamberlain 
was  elected  president  of  the  Home  National  Bank,  a  position  he 
still  holds,  and  the  duties  of  which  he  has  performed  with  eminent 
ability  and  success. 

In  all  questions  that  have  had  the  welfare  of  the  city  of 
Meriden  at  their  foundation.  Governor  Chamberlain  has  been  a 

374 


The       Governors       of       Connecticut 

persistent  champion.  Those  enterprises  that  have  been  the  means- 
of  developing  the  growth  of  Meriden  have  found  in  him  a  ready 
helper.  He  was  one  of  the  promoters  and  subsequently  a  director 
of  the  Meriden,  Waterbury  &  Cromwell  Railroad,  of  the  Winthrop 
Hotel  Company;  is  a  director  of  the  Meriden  Cutlery  Company,  the 
Edward  Miller  Company  and  the  Stanley  Works  of  New  Britain 

In  politics,  Governor  Chamberlain  has  always  been  a  staunch 
Republican,  but  he  never  sought  public  office  and  all  the  honors 
that  have  come  to  him  were  conferred  by  an  admiring  public,  who' 
saw  in  him  an  ideal  public  official.  Governor  Chamberlain's  first 
public  office  was  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council  of  Meriden; 
later  he  represented  his  town  in  the  General  Assembly  in  1877. 

From  then  until  1900  Governor  Chamberlain  did  not  hold 
public  office,  nor  could  he  be  persuaded  to  enter  the  ranks  of  office 
holders. 

When  the  Republican  State  Convention  met  at  New  Haven, 
September  5,  1900,  and  nominated  George  P.  McLean  of 
Simsbury  for  governor,  Chamberlain  was  also  nominated  unani- 
mously for  comptroller  of  the  state.  This  he  accepted  and  at 
the  subsequent  election  received  a  large  vote,  being  elected  to 
the  office.  His  career  as  comptroller  of  the  state  was  so  successful, 
and  his  popularity  so  great,  that  on  the  announcement  in  1 902  that 
Governor  McLean  was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election,  the  name  of 
Comptroller  Chamberlain  was  at  once  decided  upon  by  the  party 

375 


T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

managers  and  the  public  as  the  man  who  could  carry  his  party  to 
victory.  He  was  nominated  for  governor  at  the  convention  which 
was  held  in  Hartford  on  September  17,  1902,  and  at  the  polls 
received  a  vote  that  not  only  elected  him  chief  executive  of  the 
state,  but  was  of  sufficient  size  to  demonstrate  beyond  any  doubt 
the  confidence  the  people  reposed  in  him. 

Governor  Chamberlain  was  inaugurated  on  the  first  Monday 
in  January,  1903,  and  his  first  address  as  governor  of  the  state 
called  forth  liberal  praise  from  newspapers  and  citizens  of  all  shades 
of  political  belief  His  determination  to  be  governor  of  all  the 
people  while  in  office  was  abundantly  shown  when  soon  after 
his  inauguration  he  called  out  the  armed  forces  of  the  state,  and 
spent  a  sleepless  night,  in  his  efforts  to  quell  the  lawless  spirit  which 
infested  Waterbury  during  the  famous  trolley  strike  of  1903.  For. 
this  action  he  received  the  unqualified  praise  of  all  and  he  set  an 
example  for  other  chief  executives  to  follow  when  similar  occasions 
arise,  and  have  to  be  summarily  dealt  with. 

Governor  Chamberlain's  administration  was  characterized  by 
a  conservative  spirit,  and  he  fully  justified  all  that  his  friends  said 
of  him  previous  to  his  election. 

Wesleyan  University  conferred  upon  the  governor  in  1903  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

Governor  Chamberlain  is  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Charles  Elliott 
Mitchell  of  New  York,  wife  of  the  former  patent  commissioner  of 
376 


'T  b   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

the  United  States  under  President  Harrison.  His  brother  was  the 
late  Valentine  Chamberlain  of  New  Britain,  whose  death  is  still 
lamented  in  Connecticut. 

A  biographer  has  said  of  Governor  Chamberlain:  "He  is  kind, 
genial  and  courteous,  and  his  dignity,  fidelity  and  ability  peculiarly 
fitted  him  for  the  high  office  of  chief  magistrate  of  Connecticut. 
The  same  proverbial  success  that  has  always  crowned  his  efforts  in 
whatever  he  has  undertaken  to  do  for  the  good  of  the  public  has 
won  for  him  the  proud  distinction  of  being  a  model  governor." 


377 


"The 
FIFTY-EIGHTH    GOVERNOR 

of 
CONNECTICUT 

is 
HENRY     ROBERTS 

A  graduate  lawyer  and  manufacturer,  who, 
born  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  came  to  South 
Windsor  in  early  childhood — He  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  academic  and  law  departments 
of  Yale  University  and  entered  manufacturing 
—  Business  integrity  in  the  public  service, 
beginning  in  the  City  Council  in  Hartford, 
advanced  him  to  the  General  Assembly,  presi- 
dent pro  tem.  of  the  Senate,  lieutenant 
governor   and   chief    executive    of    the    state 


HENRY 


ROBERTS 


FEW  men  attain  high  position  in  pubHc  life  as  quickly  as  the 
Hon.  Henry  Roberts,  governor  of  Connecticut,  who,  eight 
years  ago,  was  not  known  to  the  public  except  as  a  success- 
ful business  man  of  Hartford,  with  no  apparent  ambition  to  go 
higher  in  the  public  service  than  that  of  being  an  alderman  in  his 
city  ward. 

His  rise  was  rapid  and  deserved,  for  the  closest  friends  of 
Governor  Roberts  knew  his  latent  ability  years  ago  and  predicted 
he  would  occupy  high  offices  within  the  gift  of  the  people. 

Henry  Roberts  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  on  Janu- 
ary 22,  1853,  ^^^  ^^  George  Roberts,  who,  for  many  years,  was 
one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  Hartford,  occupying  several 
important  offices  during  his  life. 

The  ancestors  of  Governor  Roberts  were  of  Welsh  origin 
and  can  be  traced  to  William  Roberts  who  came  to  this  country  in 
1654.  Another  ancestor  of  a  later  date  was  George  Roberts,  an 
officer  of  repute  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  One  ancestor  on  his 
mother's  side  had  such  a  career  as  a  soldier  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War  that  after  his  death  his  townspeople  erected  to  his  memory  a 

381 


T!  h  e        Governors        of        Connecticut 

monument  at    Deerfield   Cross   Roads,  in  honor  of  his  bravery. 

The  first  twelve  years  of  Governor  Roberts'  life  were  spent  on  a 
farm  in  South  Windsor,  and  he  thus  commenced  life  like  many 
another  governor  of  this  commonwealth  by  tilling  the  soil.  He 
attended  the  schools  of  South  Windsor  and  the  Hartford  High 
School  where  he  was  graduated  in  1873.  Then  he  entered  the 
academical  department  of  Yale  University  and  was  graduated  from 
that  institution  in  1877.  After  that  he  was  graduated  from  the 
Yale  Law  School  but  never  practiced,  as  he  did  not  study  law  for 
that  purpose.  The  next  year  after  his  graduation  from  the  law 
school,  Roberts  entered  the  office  of  the  Hartford  Woven  Wire 
&  Mattress  Company.  In  1884  he  was  made  secretary  of  the 
company  and  in  1886  became  its  president.  At  this  writing, 
in  November,  1905,  he  is  interested  in  various  other  business 
enterprises  in  Hartford,  as  was  his  father,  and  among  some  of  the 
offices  he  holds  may  be  mentioned  that  of  director  of  the  Hartford 
Trust  Company,  the  State  Savings  Bank,  the  Hartford  Electric 
Light  Company,  the  Farmington  River  Power  Company,  and  a 
trustee  of  the  Slater  Industrial  School  at  Winston,  North  Carolina. 

Governor  Roberts  takes  an  active  interest  in  all  social  affairs 
and  he  is  a  member  of  the  Country  Club  at  Farmington,  the  Hart- 
ford Club,  and  other  organizations  of  a  similar  character.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  and 
the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution. 

382 


^  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

Governor  Roberts'  record  as  a  public  official  is  of  the  highest 
character,  and  during  the  eight  years  he  has  been  in  public  life  no 
one  has  any  criticism  to  make  of  his  acts  as  a  public  servant.  First 
elected  an  alderman  from  the  sixth  ward  in  1897,  he  served  for  two 
years  as  chairman  of  the  important  Ways  and  Means  Committee* 
In  1898  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  from 
Hartford  and  during  the  session  of  1899  occupied  the  important 
position  of  chairman  of  the  House  Committee  of  Finance.  He  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  House  and  laid  the  foun- 
dations for  his  future  success  at  the  hands  of  the  people.  Elected 
senator  from  his  district  in  1900,  Roberts  was  senate  chairman  of 
the  Appropriations  Committee  and  in  this  position  showed  his  ability 
as  a  shrewd  business  man.  In  1902  he  was  elected  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor on  the  ticket  with  Governor  Chamberlain,  and  occupied  that 
office  two  years.  In  speaking  of  his  record  as  lieutenant  governor 
a  New  Haven  newspaper  said:  "The  cordial  esteem  of  twenty-four 
leading  men  of  the  state  is  something  an  unworthy  man  never  gets. 
The  cordial  esteem  of  all  who  know  him  cannot  be  enjoyed  by  any 
man  not  of  high  class,  morally  and  intellectually.  Lieutenant 
Governor  Roberts  has  won  a  high  place  in  the  regard  and  affections 
of  the  people  of  Connecticut,  and  in  our  opinion  no  Senate  was  ever 
presided  over  more  successfully  than  the  one  of  1903,  over  which 
the  favorite  son  of  Hartford  wielded  the  gavel." 

Roberts  was  nominated  for  governor  of  Connecticut  at  Hart- 

383 


'T'  h   e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

ford  on  September  14,  1904,  and  at  the  election  in  November  he 
was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority  over  A.  Heaton  Robertson  of 
New  Haven,  the  Democratic  candidate.  He  was  inaugurated  on 
Wednesday,  January  4,  1905,  and  his  inaugural  message  delivered 
on  that  occasion  was  widely  commented  on  by  the  newspapers  of 
the  state. 

The  following  is  an  estimate  of  Governor  Roberts  by  Charles 
Hopkins  Clark  printed  in  "  The  Hartford  Courant "  the  day  after 
he  was  nominated  for  governor  in  September,  1904: 

"  Being  of  highest  character,  experienced  in  all  public  affairs, 
loyal  to  all  that  relates  to  Connecticut's  best  welfare,  and  ambitious 
only  to  perform  every  public  duty  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  state, 
he  is  a  candidate  who  commands  the  respect  of  all,  and  the  better 
you  know  him  the  better  you  will  like  him. 

"Sometimes  conventions  nominate  candidates  who  are  like 
bumble  bees,  in  the  fact  that  they  are  biggest  when  first  born. 
Henry  Roberts  is  not  such  a  candidate.  He  was  big  enough  to 
get  1 7 1  more  votes  than  the  total  number  given  to  his  three  popu- 
lar and  powerful  rivals.  His  growth  in  popularity  will  increase 
every  day  of  the  campaign.  He  will  win  by  a  big  plurality.  He 
will  be  the  next  governor  of  Connecticut,  and  he  will  be  one  of  the 
best  governors  Connecticut  has  ever  had." 

Governor  Roberts'  public  service  has  fully  justified  this  predic- 
tion.    A  study  of  his  record  as  a  public  official  shows  that  he  is  a 

384 


l'  h  e       Governors       of       Connecticut 

man  who  thinks  intelligently,  acts  conservatively  and  fearlessly,  and 
whose  judgment  is  sound.  His  fellow  townsmen  of  Hartford 
^expressed  themselves  in  no  ambiguous  terms  when  they  passed  a 
set  of  resolutions  in  which  they  spoke  of  Henry  Roberts  thus : 

"  In  every  public  position  which  he  has  been  called  upon  to 
fill,  he  has  known  and  appreciated  his  duty,  has  discharged  that 
■duty  well.  Interested  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  public  welfare, 
and  earnest  in  its  advocacy,  in  the  prime  of  life,  long  familiar  with 
the  industries  and  activities  that  have  made  Connecticut  prominent, 

.     .     .     .     .     we  commend  him as  one  who  has 

illustrated  in  public  and  private  life,  the  value  to  a  community  of 
an  honest,  capable,  fearless,  loyal  and  lovable  man." 


385 


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Connecticut 

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